An ideal slice of tomato ought to be deep crimson, agency and juicy. Sadly, it’s far too frequent to slice right into a horrible slice of tomato, which is watery, slimy and stuffed with seeds.
However do you know there’s a easy trick that may flip a sub-par tomato right into a a lot better one? And the secret is already in your pantry.
Whether or not you’re slicing up tomatoes for burgers, a Caprese salad or tomato sandwiches, give your self about 10-Quarter-hour earlier than mealtime to prep your tomatoes by calmly salting them. The salt does way more than make them style higher ― it’s extra scientific than that. Somewhat, the salt really attracts out the undesirable liquid and creates a denser slice.
As J. Kenji Lopez-Alt from Critical Eats has defined, “salting draws liquid out of tomatoes through the process of osmosis — that is, the tendency of a liquid (tomato juice) to migrate across a membrane (the tomato’s cell walls) from an area of low solute concentration (within the cells) to an area of high solute concentration (outside of the cells).” And if you take away extra water from the tomato, it concentrates its taste, making it style extra tomatoey.
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Slice your tomatoes with a serrated knife.
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Lay them flat on paper towels, or on a steel cooling rack over a baking tray (the latter is the extra environmentally pleasant possibility, and also will catch all of the tomato juices if you wish to reuse them later).
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Flippantly sprinkle the highest of every slice with a pinch of salt. We suggest Kosher salt ― it’s simpler to pinch along with your fingers than super-fine desk salt, and it’s finer than course sea salt, which might add an undesirable crunch.
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Permit the tomatoes to relaxation for about 7-8 minutes. You need to see beads of liquid rise to the floor, at which level you may dab the tops with a paper towel. (That is additionally a great likelihood to take away extra salt, particularly for those who’re watching your sodium ranges.)
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Flip the tomato slices and repeat the entire course of on the other aspect, dabbing once more after one other 7-8 minutes.
Should you’ve reduce your tomatoes into wedges for a salad (versus spherical slices), you may strive an alternate technique: Toss your wedges in a colander, calmly salt them, allow them to sit for 15-20 minutes and provides them a shake to empty their extra liquid.
Now, if solely you didn’t mangle your tomatoes if you sliced them! Fortunate for you, we’ve based up knives made only for slicing tomatoes.
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Greatest for learners
Should you aren’t snug wielding an extended knife, the 4-inch Victorinox Swiss traditional paring knife with serrated edge is a broadly standard possibility that you’re going to really feel protected dealing with. The serrated enamel are fairly fantastic and the knife is light-weight, coming in 4 completely different colour choices that you’re going to attain for again and again.
Amazon
Greatest for large tomatoes
Hacking by an enormous tomato with a tiny paring knife simply does not work, so if you’ve obtained massive tomatoes, this Henckels 8-inch bread knife will do the trick.
Amazon
For perfectionists, a knife particularly designed for tomatoes
This Rada tomato-slicing knife has almost 3,500 five-star evaluations from Amazon clients. Made in the USA, this knife is 8 7/8 inches lengthy, which means it will slice by massive ‘maters with ease.
Amazon
A set of inexpensive ceramic-coated knives that features a good bread knife
I purchased this very cheap six-piece equipment of Cuisinart slicers to maintain at my mother’s home, as a result of I obtained sick of cooking along with her previous, boring knives. The serrated bread knife on this set really slices tomatoes like magic. (The opposite instruments are all nice, too.) The blades are fabricated from chrome steel with a ceramic coating, so the one draw back is that you could’t actually sharpen them.
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