Even with my nice sharp knife set, I can’t dice a tomato without making tomato sauce. I’ve tried every way I can think of, but it’s hopeless. Is there a specific way to do this without having a mess?
I find that the combination of a good serrated knife and large quantities of patience are useful in the process. I’ve never produced anything that could even charitably be called “diced tomatos” with anything else.
Yes - a sharp serrated knife. Slice the tomato in half and lay them flat side down. Slice in strips, then turn and slice crosswise. Voila (which I embarrassingly pronounce as it is written), diced tomatoes.
This is how I learned how to dice tomatoes in school:
- Cut out stem end with small paring knife.
- With sharp chef’s knife, slice into quarters, lengthwise.
- With your fingers, remove the seed and inner pulp, leaving the outer tomato flesh.
- Lay tomato flesh skin side down, and slice lengthwise, then cut strips widthwise into a dice.
I’ve found this to be the best way to dice tomatoes cleanly, as you’re removing all the messiest bits before dicing.
Don’t forget that you can do some good testing your techniques on Roma/Italian tomatoes. Much less juice and fewer seeds. It really helped me learn how to chop a tomato.
And yes, the knife is very important, it must be serrated and very sharp.
BTW, if it’s a big mess, it’s okay. Cooking food is fun, chopping to perfection is not that important it’s how your food tastes in the end.
JillGat is right. Prep is everything. Get those bitter seeds outta there! (Don’t forget to peel the tomato, which is easily done if you’ll dip it into steamy hot water for a second or two, then immediately rinse under cold tap water.) One further hint: don’t push down on the knife. Saw with it gently rather than cut per se. Let its own weight do the work.
My mother could dice a tomato in the palm of her hand. However, she lost her dexterity and died before she could teach me the art. I’m very good with knives and chopping, but every time I’ve tried that, I’ve cut myself. My best diced tomatoes are really wedge-shaped pieces of slices.
During a messy game of Risk, I once made some tomatoed dice, though.
Your “nice sharp knife set” is dull if you can’t dice a tomato. When I sharpen my knives, I use a a slightly mushy tomato to test the sharpness. When my knives can cut through it cleanly, they’re sharp. I then keep 'em sharp by using a honing steel each and every time I use the knife.
If you’re not anal about knives, use a serrated edge knife. It’s unneccessary if you keep your chef’s knife sharp, but I’ve yet to find an average home cook who does (I consider myself un-average in my kitchen analness), so you see most people using cheap serrated edge knives to cut tomatoes.
Slight hijack: you might want to go ahead and get a good knife sharpener and a steel and sharpen your knives. It’s worth it when you have a friend over who wants to, say, cut a lime so he/she can have a slice of lime in their drink. People positively GUSH over sharp knives - people who normally wouldn’t give a #@! about a knife get all giddy when they experience how lovely it is to use one that’s actually sharp.