Cooking At Home
Working Together In The Kitchen
Making Tomato Sauce
Making tomato sauce from scratch allows us to connect with fresh ingredients and know exactly what goes into the food we're eating.
A tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily
out of tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish (rather than as
a condiment). Tomato sauces are common for meat and vegetables, but they
are perhaps best known as sauces for pasta dishes.
Tomatoes have a rich flavor, low liquid content, very soft flesh which
breaks down easily, and the right composition to thicken up into a sauce
when they are cooked (without the need of thickeners like roux). All of
these qualities make them ideal for simple and appealing sauces.
The simplest tomato sauces consist just of chopped tomato flesh (with
the skins and seeds optionally removed), simmered until it loses its raw
flavor, and seasoned with salt and pepper!
Join us for an afternoon of adventure and surprises!
First One Has To Go Hunting For Tomatoes
This
generally takes a brave tough man armed with machete and other
protective devices (notice the hat and pruning devices)
A closer look reveal
the determination on this man's face and a fearless look as he moves
deep into the jungle in search of the elusive "perfect tomato"
Once found the
tomatoes must be captured, separated from the rest of the herd, and
placed into carefully designed cages.... Not too many at a time as one
does not want to bruise the tomatoes!
Oh yes... the
hunting costume needs to be made of tough materials and contain dirt and
other gardening evidence thus enabling the hunter to sneak up on the
tomatoes while they are unaware of his presence!
Preparations Begin At The Camp!
Collect the tomatoes
and organize them by colors as sauces are better when many types of
tomatoes are used... We captured red, yellow, orange, striped, and black
ones on today's outting!
Peeling the tomatoes is an art
and it begins will boiling water! A big pot is needed and it will take
some time so be prepared to put more water into the pot as the day goes
forward.
Prepare a bowl of
ice water and set it aside. Place a pot of water on the stove and bring
it to a boil. Then, drop the tomato into the boiling water. You will
remove it after 30 seconds or when the skin begins to peel. If you
intend to peel several tomatoes make sure you have enough water for all
of the tomatoes. We simply use the kitchen sink for our
activities.
Organize the
tomatoes so you can see the colors and sizes. You will want to
take 4-6 tomatoes at a time and drop into the boiling water for 30
seconds or so. Having the same sizes (or close to it) assures you
will not over cook a small one while attempting to get the large one to
take of his/her skin!
While still in
hunting attire place the tomatoes into the boiling water, head first so
as to eliminate their pain instantly! Careful as they tend to
wiggle around for the first 1/2 second and hot water can splash.
We use a modern device called a "food strainer" and gently place the
tomatoes into the hot water!
Having your sidekick
at the camp is helpful as she can assist in the de-skinning process
while you proceed with skin removal. Notice the tomatoes just sit
there while the magic of hot water works!
Beware, Explicit Naked Photos Below!
When the now hot
tomatoes are carefully dropped into the ice water they become partially
disrobed! Teasing the great hunter with their inner beauty but
they are still a challenge! Warning.... let them cool a while in
the ice water as their massive bodies can retain some of the heat!
Carefully life the
now cool tomato out of their pool and the skin will almost fall off
revealing a quite naked tomato. The skin can be sown together and
make into a nice red scarf but we do not recommend it! The
remaining part of the tomatoes can be cut in half and squeezed tenderly!
Why? The hunter and his sidekick only want the meat of the tomato and squeezing the flesh in ones hands eliminates most of the seeds and the excess water!
Drop the remaining
fleshy part of the tomato into a calendar so the juices can run out.
Remember tomatoes spend a lot of time in the jungle at the watering hole
and are quite full of water!
Some will float and
some will sink but they all taste good! Keep the water cool and
afer 50-60 hot tomatoes you may want to add ice or refresh the water
with cool tap water and ice!
If you look
carefully you can see the remaining tomatoes shake and quiver knowing
they are next to take the plunge! After th trip from the jungle,
they are fairly tame!
The calendar will
drain a lot of he juices but as the calendar fills up, we transfer the
tomatoes into mixing bowls and see the excess water on the right had
side? We use a spoon to remove it several times during the course
of the afternoon!
We get the almost
ready to go "grind" tomatoes into plastic containers so we can estimate
the amount we have for the day!
Look carefully at
the bottom center.... There is water accumulating as we continue the
process of excess water removal! We punch the hole in the meat
using a scoop and water naturally goes to the lowest spot!
Clearer in this
picture (no flash)!
It's a messy job but
someone has to do it! The towel on the counter is used to catch
the hot water as the strainer is used to lift he tomatoes form the stove
(on the left) to the sink (on the right). The towel catches a lot
of juices that otherwise might run around the counter and on to the
floor! Skinning is complete! BRing in the real kitchen master,
Sue!
Now Life Get Tough For The Tomatoes
Trusty sidekick Sue
uses the Cruiseart to grind up the tomatoe meat into a puree. This
takes a talented person (namely the real chef) as only she knows the
consistency she desires. Too much grinding gives one a soup and to
little makes for real chunky sauce. Best turn over the reains to
the master from here forward!
Ahhhhh! A
masterful consistency with small chunks. Notice not excess
water... that's because we kept removing the water as they tomatoes were
skinned and hand squeezed!
This is what 12
quarts of tomato sauce looks like after the initial work! It is
worth it as all winter we will have fresh tomato sauce! We do this
twice a summer!
Now for some light
cooking! We take this and place into a large pot or two!
Bring the entire quantity to a boil and then simmer or 30 minutes adding
only salt and pepper to taste!
One will work if you
have one big enough but smaller ones are easier to handle and allow
adjustment to the seasoning if so desired!
When done, we place
the result into one quart containers allowing them to cool before
placing them into the freezer for proper aging. Tese will
last a least a year in a good freezer.
The sauce is used
for a lot of things by master chef Sue and the year unfolds! The
great white hunter has been relegated to clean-up duties while the final
stages of preparation and cooking took place. Paul is also
available for a light fee to do the heaving lifting!