Is there an easy way to dice tomatoes without making a huge mess?
Also, do most people get rid of the gooey parts with the seeds first, or include that? If you get rid of it–how?
How I currently dice tomatoes is to cut a grid pattern into the tomato about 3/4 the way through the tomato, then slice through that and it falls off into little cubes… however it’s messy and it’s hard to hold together while you’re slicing.
You might want to check that your blade is sharp. I only cook a few times a year (so I’m hardly an expert), generally at my chef brother’s house and using his knifes, and I haven’t had any particular problem with a gooey mess. Obviously it’s still messier than other things, but not out of hand.
My brother also told me to cut in at an angle like you were trying to go straight in at the surface, rather than straight down.
The lady in this video seems to be doing it like my brother does, though much slower (and holding her non-knife hand wrong).
I cut in half, scoop the seeds out, lay the flat ends on the cutting boards, and crisscut into dice.
The person in that video halves the tomatoes but then puts them cut side face down - so that each consecutive cut requires piercing the the tomato’s tough skin, tougher than beginning cut on the already cut open face - which means needing to push down more and slightly squashing the tomato each time. There is no easy way to cut a tomato and the better the tomato the more juicy it will be.
I suggest halving, then using the opened, cut side of the fruit - slice segments resembling citrus fruit triangles - then saw across those. Use a gentle slicing action with as sharp a broad blade style as you can get, minimize downward pressure each time until getting the cut started.
(I don’t prefer to remove the seeds, they’re tasty and healthy to eat.)
If you have a good, sharp knife, the tomato skin should not be a problem. With duller knives, I will flip the halves, but this should not be necessary with a decent honed instrument.
Serrated knives are very good and precise for dicing a very ripe tomato. Sawing them with minimal effort conserves the juice.
This.
For a long time I have used a boning knife for vegetable preparation and tomatoes are the perfect explanation why. Whenever you cook with tomatoes using the whole tomato rather than just the flesh introduces more seeds and more water. If you desire a dish with more seeds that is more watery…great.
To gut one with a boning knife - slice a small bit off each end. Stand the tomato upright and run the knife from top to bottom under the flesh. You should end up with about a quarter of a tomato. Rotate and repeat. Dice the tomato “cheeks” that you have made.
I do use a serrated knife because I’ve always found it gets though the skin easier. We have good knives (Henckels) so I don’t think the knife is the problem. Also, when I dice tomatoes it is to use them fresh, not to cook with them. If I’m cooking with them I use them from a can.
For those who scoop the seeds out–don’t you end up losing a lot of the tomato flesh from the inside?
You have to use the right variety of tomato. Some have a higher flesh-to-seed ratio.
Plum/Roma tomatoes have a lot of flesh, which is why they’re generally used for sauce. You can usually find some of decent quality over the off season at a not-too-outrageous price. Though with the advent of “tomatoes on the vine,” I usually choose them. The taste is so much better that I’m willing to take the hit for more seeds. They do have a reasonable amount of flesh to them too.
What you don’t want to use is Campari tomatoes. They’re the tastiest winter tomatoes IMHO, but they have a ton of juice and seeds.
BTW–I fully concur with the cut in half, scoop seeds, place cut side down, dice with serrated knife method.
ETA–When I cook with tomatoes, I always buy the whole tomatoes in the can. Then I squeeze each one over a bowl to get most of the seeds and juice out. Then I squoosh it in my hand to get it into pieces and throw it in the pot. Not only is this really fun and messy to do, it gets the tomato into nice irregular chunks and reduces the liquid in the dish which I usually want. The tomatoes will break down in a long-cooked tomato sauce. (Get Dominic to be your official tomato squoosher. He’d love it.)
I’d be worried he would eat them! Dominic is a tomato FIEND. If I am chopping tomatoes he gets the ends or all hell breaks loose! (I’m sure he’d love squooshing though)
That’s hilarious. I just got a vision of him sneaking cans of tomatoes out of the pantry after you go to bed.
Good knives are a good start, but unless they’re sharp they’re no better than dull knives. The key is /sharp/
I test my knives functional sharpness by cutting tomatoes. If they pass through the skin easily on a slice, then they’re sharp.
Sharp
sharp
sharpsharpsharp.
edited to add:
Even a sharp or serrated knife will mush tomatoes if you’re trying to chop with it. You need to use a slicing motion, which can either be backwards (tip-end down, pulling handle towards you) or forwards (a kind of pushing-rock, like that push-arm linkage on steam locomotives).
Just stick your thumb or finger in and pop/drag out the pulpy (non-flesh), seed-filled part. You’re not actually losing any solid tomato in the process.
I believe the seed goo (bonus fact: it’s called locular jelly, apparently) is more acidic than the rest of the tomato, so it could throw off recipes. Mostly, though, I just don’t like it, and always get rid of it. Usually shaking a half a tomato over the sink does the trick!
If the skin is the problem, you can always blanch the tomatoes first. Cut a small X inthe bottom of the tomato, drop them in boiling water for 1 minute, and then into an ice bath. The skin should just peel right off after that, and the tomateos are much easier to dice.
I also use my finder to pluck out the goop/seeds.
Green Bean: I could see that happening! Remember, this is a kid who listed “broccoli” as his favorite food on a questionnaire in 1st grade.
I always slice/saw tomatoes rather than chop–otherwise I just get smushed tomatoes.
crazyjoe: do you mean “finger”? Otherwise I don’t understand your last sentence.
Nobody has suggested ‘Slap Chop’?
Of course I have no idea if it works for tomatoes or not…
Take a tomato and cut off the sides and top and bottom until you have a six sided cube.
Stick a single white dot on one face, two white dots on another face, three white dots on the third face, etc. until you come to the sixth and final face where you stick six white dots.
Repeat this procedure with a second tomato.
Put the two cubes in the freezer until they are frozen rock solid.
There you have it - diced tomatoes!
ETA. OK. So I didn’t know how to spell “tomato”.
I use a carbon steel knife and make double sure it’s double sharp. Easy peasy.