Caramelizing Tomato Paste

[project]

I don't understand 'caramelizing' tomato paste when making Italian-like tomato sauces.

What's going on? Does that caramelization help the sauce flavor? How do you do it? What kind of flavor change does it give? Is the change of the tomato paste flavor contribution small, medium, or large? What else is in the pot when you caramelize tomato paste? Is the 'caramelization' just 90 seconds and fast or, say, 10 or 20 minutes and slow? How much darker does the tomato paste get?

At present, my favorite routine dinner dish is a casserole dish with ravioli from a can but fixed up with ground beef sauteed with onions and pepper, mozzarella cheese, and the tomato sauce, heated in microwave, and topped with grated Pecorino Romano cheese. It's good, and even a little better with some of the Chianti.

The sauce has virgin olive oil, onions, garlic, drinkable Italian red Chianti, canned, whole peeled tomatoes, diced, canned, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, salt and pepper, and lots of the usual suspects as dried herbs -- parsley, basil, oregano, bay leaves, and rosemary.

So far I am omitting sugar, anchovies, capers, etc.

I have been known to toss in a few ice cubes of demi-glace of brown chicken stock, but I haven't done that in recent trials.

But I don't 'get it' with caramelizing the tomato paste. Is the goal a fond, a slow Malliard reaction, some actual 'caramelization' of sugars from high heat, or what?

So far my sauce recipe uses a 6 ounce can of tomato paste and yields about 6 quarts of tomato sauce.

[pfunk_49]

If I remember my underused culinary terms correctly, the technique is called "pince" (peen-say). And you are looking mostly to caramalize sugars in the tomato product and to also create fond. You don't have protein in the tomato, so there is no maillard.

You'll want to do it relatively slowly, because you can very easily burn it and ruin the dish. because of this, you'll want to do it once aromatics are already cooked to your liking. After the pince would come your deglaze/reduction. Then the addition of your more liquid ingredients like the other tomato product. Your recipe probably tells you this though.

I'm a little confused about why you would leave out those other ingredients. I realize alot of people shy away from both anchovies and capers, not understanding their role in the context of a dish. I used to do it all the time. Give it a shot and I think you will be pleasantly suprised. The capers and anchovies will lend saltiness and the sugar will balance the acidity of the tomatoes and wine.

Lately ive been followin Paul Bertoli's advice from cooking by hand and adding a tomato leaf or stem (if available from the garden or from vine ripes) for the last few minutes of cooking a sauce. It brings back alot of fresh tomato taste into a sauce that has been simmered/reduced

[slkinsey]

If I remember my underused culinary terms correctly, the technique is called "pince" (peen-say).

What language is this, out of curiosity? I've never heard this term. Italians might call this rosolare ("to brown").

And you are looking mostly to caramalize sugars in the tomato product and to also create fond.  You don't have protein in the tomato, so there is no maillard.

Actually, tomatoes (generalized) contain around 2.6 grams of sugars and 1 gram or protein per 100 grams. So, we're talking about maillard reactions.

[Chris Hennes]

I generally "caramelize" tomato paste as a last step before adding liquid to the pan. So, for example, I will saute some whatever veg. are included until they are about ready, add tomato paste and cook for, I would say, 60-90 seconds, until the tomato paste is a bit darker, and then add in whatever liquid I am using (tomato puree, stock, whatever). I think the taste difference is pretty noticeable: the tomato paste sticks out less, if that makes any sense.

Edited February 1, 2009 by Chris Hennes (log)

[pfunk_49]

hmm... didn't realize there was a significant amount of protein in a tomato. That's good to know.

Pince is french, should have the little accent mark on the e. And now I'm questioning my vocabulary, but I'm pretty sure it's correct. I've never been any good at spelling foreign words. Pretty sure it refers specifically to caramalizing (or Maillard?) of tomato product, usually priot to a deglaze. I most comonly use it when making brown stocks. Brown mirepoix well, then caramalize tomato paste before deglazing and adding to stockpot. I should never leave home without my food lovers companion, especially for four months!

[pfunk_49]

chris makes a good point by actually telling you what this does. raw tomato paste is pretty forward and sharp. This will mellow it out a little, as well as give a little more depth.

[jvalentino]

I'm having a tough time getting by the ravioli from a can - That sounds like some casserole!

Seriously though I always carmelize tomato paste for reasons mentioned, but you should try it. I wonder if you'd notice a difference with all you have going on there.

Jeff

[slkinsey]

Pince is french, should have the little accent mark on the e.  And now I'm questioning my vocabulary, but I'm pretty sure it's correct.

Hmm. Pincé means "stiff" in French; pincée is the past participle of pincer ("to pinch"), meaning "pinched."

[Chris Hennes]

The Food Lover's Companion, alas, has nothing to say about the word pincé. Fortunately, however, the CIA's New Professional Chef does, in the section on brown sauce (Sauce Espagnole):

2. Add the tomato paste and cook out until rust-colored. Allowing tomato paste to "cook out" (pincé) reduces excessive sweetness, acidity, or bitterness, which might affect the finished sauce. If also encourages the development of the sauce's overall flavor and aroma. [...] (Tomato paste cooks out very quickly on the stovetop. Do not let it burn.)

[pfunk_49]

Thanks Chris, I knew I still remembered some of the mundain details from into to sauces.

[paulraphael]

Actually, tomatoes (generalized) contain around 2.6 grams of sugars and 1 gram or protein per 100 grams.  So, we're talking about maillard reactions.

←

Probably a rant for another thread, but is anyone else annoyed by the rampant wrong use of "caramelized?"

It wouldn't be so bad, except,

1) the biggest offenders are chefs, who should know better, and

2) it's a whole lot easier to just say "browned."

[jvalentino]

Actually, tomatoes (generalized) contain around 2.6 grams of sugars and 1 gram or protein per 100 grams.  So, we're talking about maillard reactions.

←

Probably a rant for another thread, but is anyone else annoyed by the rampant wrong use of "caramelized?"

It wouldn't be so bad, except,

1) the biggest offenders are chefs, who should know better, and

2) it's a whole lot easier to just say "browned."

←

I use "browned" to avoid this exactly. I did assume that in the case of tomato paste I would be carmelizing the sugars though. I wasn't even aware of a maillard reaction until a couple of years ago-it was all browning or carmelizing, what a faux pas! Wow two uses of French in that last sentence, I'm gonna have to make fun of myself now.

Fin,

Jeff

[slkinsey]

Actually, tomatoes (generalized) contain around 2.6 grams of sugars and 1 gram or protein per 100 grams.  So, we're talking about maillard reactions.

Probably a rant for another thread, but is anyone else annoyed by the rampant wrong use of "caramelized?"

It wouldn't be so bad, except,

1) the biggest offenders are chefs, who should know better, and

2) it's a whole lot easier to just say "browned."

I think this probably stems from the fact that the Maillard reaction has really only come to common culinary parlance in relatively recent times. Also because most cooks are familiar with caramelization from, well, making caramel. You take the observed browning (just like making caramel!) and the fact that Maillardization often produces some sweetness (hey! caramel is sweet too!), and it's easy to see how this got started. Then, once one person said "caramelized onions" it was off to the races.

[paulraphael]

I'm waiting for someone like Grant Aschatz to serve actual caramelized onions, for dessert.

[Qwerty]

Project...always cook out tomato paste. Do a self experiment--taste a little bit of tom. paste straight from a can, then cook some and taste it. That should be all the convincing you need.

[slkinsey]

It should be noted that cooking the tomato paste by itself until it browns a bit and then adding liquid produces a flavor entirely different from putting tomato paste into the liquid and then cooking the liquid sufficiently to cook out the raw flavor from the tomato paste.

[Batard]

I was making Pepin's version of veal brown stock, and the recipe called for roasting fresh tomatoes OR substituting a certain amount of tomato paste. The first time I made it I just threw the paste from the can. What a mess that turned out to be, too sweet and overpowering with tomato. Next time I browned the paste. Even though the recipe didn't mention doing that, I knew the trick from making sauces. That made all the difference. Where I just had an unpleasant tomatoey tang before, now I had deep, complex, vaguely nutty flavors that harmonized with he stock.

Like the Maillard reaction, caramelization is a type of non-enzymatic browning. However, unlike the Maillard reaction, caramelization is pyrolysis, as opposed to reaction with amino acids.

I always thought that I was caramelizing the sugars in the tomatoes. My question is, why do the tomatoes get less sweet when "browning" them? If I'm NOT "caramelizing" the tomatoes, what exactly am I doing? I'm confused, because I know caramelizing sugar takes a bit of time, but tomato paste cooks out rather quickly. Some clear definitions would be helpful.

[slkinsey]

See here.