Tomato Water?

[Stone]

After having a non-bloody mary at BHSB, this weekend, I figured I'd try my hand at this fresh concoction.

How do you make tomato water? I saw recipe that seemed to say you just chop the tomatoes, run them through a food processor and strain. I don't see how this would turn out a clear product.

[jackal10]

Freeze the tomatos, then collect the water as they thaw in a strainer.

[rlibkind]

Well, the recipe you cited (puree and strain) is accurate as far as it goes, but...

After processing four or five pounds of tomatoes (add a tablespoon or two of kosher salt to help them give off their water while pureeing), you gently place them in at least a double-thickness of cheesecloth, gather the ends of the cloth, tie the ends to form a sack, then tie the sack to a dowell or wooden spoon suspended over a non-reactive container (a very tall stock pot can work well). You want to arrange it so that the sack won't be sitting in the tomato water as it accumulates.

The dripping process takes at least eight hours -- in the refrigerator. Whatever you do, don't try to rush it by squeezing; that will turn it bloody. When it's ready, discard the solids. The tomato water will keep for a few days.

BTW another excellent use is as a base for a cold soup. Two or three small shrimp floating in lemongrass scented tomato water makes a fine summer dish.

I don't know where you live or what the state of your local tomatoes are, but it is best to make tomato water at the peak of the tomato season. Trying to make tomato water with out-of-season tomatoes will be (1) very expensive and (2) less than satisfying.

I usually make it in late August, early September, when ripe (sometimes slightly overripe) local Jersey tomatoes can be had in five or 10-pound lots at Philly's Italian Market for 50 cents a pound. The tomatoes you use for tomato nnedn't be pretty, but they should be heavy for their size (indicating lots of juice), ripe and cheap.

Unless you've got access to tomatoes that fit this bill, I'd recommend waiting until next season.

[PCL]

Thomas Keller has a recipe for this. I don't think it's in the French Laundry cookbook, but I'll try to dig it up. I've been meaning to try it out for a while now, and since the season is firing up down here, I think the time might be nigh!

[sladeums]

Thomas Keller has a recipe for this. I don't think it's in the French Laundry cookbook, but I'll try to dig it up. I've been meaning to try it out for a while now, and since the season is firing up down here, I think the time might be nigh!

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Here is a recipe from Keller that may be along the lines of what others referred to in this thread:

click here for Keller's Festive Seafood Cocktail

"...This is Thomas Keller's signature appetizer, a wry martini. Minced and julienned vegetables replace the green olive, and tomato water replaces the martini mix. The presentation is dramatic, as are all of his dishes. Thomas served this starter on a round silver tray, with the intense-flavored tomato water in a cocktail shaker. He suggests drinking it like a martini. The tomato water may be flavored in many ways, such as with chilies, or infused with herbs. Take care not to overcook the sea bass--the tomato water helps cook it..."

[ludja]

Can't recall which issue it was in, but Saveur had an article on tomatoes with a recipe for tomato water. I looked and they have it online here.

The procedure looks very similar to what rlibkind has already described.

If you click on "related recipes", there are two using tomato water:

chilled tomato consomme

&

currant tomato parfait

(the parfait looks and sounds delicious; I've been wanting to make it, but alas, will certainly have to wait until at least next year!)

I like your idea rlibking to add lemongrass and shrimp to the consomme, tres elegante!

Edited October 15, 2004 by ludja (log)

[Suzanne F]

rlibkind's directions are correct, as far as they go. But actually you have to strain it several times, and through many more layers of cheesecloth (or through cotton or linen napkins). I used to make it for Gary Robins (now at The Biltmore Room) for his amuse of tomato water-lemongrass gelee with creme fraiche and caviar.

Take a bunch of ripe-to-overripe tomatoes -- including the trimmings from concasse, the seeds and juice and skin from peeled, seeded tomatoes, any leftover bits, as long as they are not moldy or bruised. Puree in the food processor with a little salt. Strain through cloth several times, including by leaving the mass to drip overnight in the refrigerator. As rlibkind says, do NOT squeeze, or you will get particles.

and if you do use it to make a gelee, use sheet gelatin, not powdered; it will be absolutely clear, and requires less heating to dissolve after it's bloomed.

[ludja]

rlibkind's directions are correct, as far as they go. But actually you have to strain it several times, and through many more layers of cheesecloth (or through cotton or linen napkins). I used to make it for Gary Robins (now at The Biltmore Room) for his amuse of tomato water-lemongrass gelee with creme fraiche and caviar.

...

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The Saveur article (by Paul Bertolli) recommends " a large, thin cotton kitchen towel", rinsed in hot water... i.e. something stronger than cheesecloth--although I guess it depends on how many layers you use...

Thanks for tip Suzaane re: sheet gelatin vs powdered. Is it generally applicable that you can get a clearer gelatin with the sheets? Also, any other reasons, in general, where you prefer sheets to powdered? Thanks.

[fiftydollars]

Eric Ziebold recommended using a clean, quality pillow case.

It works very well. It holds a large volume and proves to be a very fine strainer.

[Carlovski]

This may be a really dumb idea but....

Could you cook with tomato water? I'm thinking either rice or pasta.

It would be freaky, uncoloured but strongly tomatoey.

[Stone]

I think it would get gummy if you tried to cook with only tomato water.

Can you freeze tomato water?

[fimbul]

I think it would get gummy if you tried to cook with only tomato water.

Can you freeze tomato water?

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I've frozen tomato water into cubes used in frou-frou cocktails and once in a chilled cucumber soup. The result I got was a grainy sort of freeze, like a granita gone too hard, rather than the unified mass you get from freezing water. My tomato water was not, however, perfectly clear, but a tad on the yellowish side, so I suspect there were minute particles present, which might have affected the way it froze.

[Suzanne F]

Stone: If you mean freeze it to store, yes, but not for long. It's a very delicate flavor, so don't expect to keep it from one tomato season to the next. It's also very impressionable, so you would have to keep it super-well wrapped for it to not pick up any other flavors.

Carlovksi: You probably could cook rice in tomato water, but again, you might lose the delicate flavor from the long heating. This is just a guess, though. I do know that to make the tomato-water gelee, we added the flavoring agents, heated it to boiling, and then removed it from the heat immediately. Gelatine was mixed into the strained water while the water was still warm.

Ludja: As for gelatine in general, I don't really have much experience with it. I used sheet in the gelee because that's what my chef told me to use. But from my limited experience, sheet does give a more tender gel than powdered, and dissolves more completely without imparting any flavor (as powdered does). If you use gelatine a lot, it is IMO the way to go. And buy it by the box from a food- or cake-supply store, not from the local gourmet store; the price differential is huge.

Fiftydollars: Yeah, the idea is a fine, closely woven cloth filter. Just no fabric softener.

[fiftydollars]

At a speech given by Eric Ziebold, Keller’s then CDC, he demonstrated a recipe for a ricotta herb agnolotti with a tomato water emulsion that was served at the French Laundry (Ziebold said mainly when Keller wasn’t around as he wasn’t particularly fond of the dish).

Despite Keller's reservations, it is delicious and the tomato water does not lose any of its flavor despite the vigorous boiling employed to rapidly achieve an emulsion.

The sauce is simple. Just take your best tomato water and put it in a small saucepan. The tomato water quickly comes to a rapid boil at which time the soft butter is stirred in and the sauce is seasoned with S&P. It has become one of my absolute favorite things to do with great tomatoes at the peak of the season. I just love this stuff.

As a side note:

Watching Ziebold it became very obvious that this is a very talented man that has spent long quality time in the kitchen. The speed at which he prepared the agnolotti was impressive... almost blinding.

If you’ve ever tried to make Keller’s pasta dough, you know it’s not easy and requires substantial kneading. Ziebold, while at no point interrupting his talk, proceeded to mix, knead, and roll out enough pasta for several dozen agnolotti. He then proceeded to demonstrate how to make the agnolotti by cranking out dozens in the total span of only a few minutes. I know it’s often said that extremely talented people make things look easy, but I’ll say it again; Ziebold makes it look very, very easy.

[Exotic Mushroom]

I make tomato water every day at work and this is how we do it. Adjust, of course, for however much you want to make.

15 tomatoes, cored and cut into eights

8 lemons

squeeze all the juice out of the lemons (this gives you usually around a pint)

puree tomatoes in a blender, then let the puree strain through a chinois. Add the lemon juice to the mixture, also strained through the chinois, and then take the liquid you have left and put it all in a large saute pan. Add a healthy amount of salt.

Heat the liquid while swirling the pan a little until the liquid is hot to the touch and there is a foamy little layer on top. Soon enough, as you swirl, it will start to look like a sauce thats about to break. Then you immediately take it off the heat and pour into a chinois lined with two coffee filters. Put it somewhere out of the way and let it all drip through slowly at room temperature. This take a couple hours.

Then you have perfect tomato water. Yummy!

[Suzanne F]

At a speech given by Eric Ziebold, Keller’s then CDC, he demonstrated a recipe for a ricotta herb agnolotti with a tomato water emulsion that was served at the French Laundry (Ziebold said mainly when Keller wasn’t around as he wasn’t particularly fond of the dish).

Despite Keller's reservations, it is delicious and the tomato water does not lose any of its flavor despite the vigorous boiling employed to rapidly achieve an emulsion. . . .

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Well, all righty, then.

[mjc]

paul bertolli writes a few pages and has recipes for and with tomato water in Cooking by Hand.

[ludja]

...

Ludja: As for gelatine in general, I don't really have much experience with it. I used sheet in the gelee because that's what my chef told me to use.    But from my limited experience, sheet does give a more tender gel than powdered, and dissolves more completely without imparting any flavor (as powdered does). If you use gelatine a lot, it is IMO the way to go. And buy it by the box from a food- or cake-supply store, not from the local gourmet store; the price differential is huge.

...

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Thanks for the gelatin info and tip on where to buy the sheet gelatin Suzanne F. I do love making things using gelatin, bavarians, panna cotta, gelees, etc.

[Paul Bacino]

Made a tomato water and scorpion pepper infusion  and I must say it is quite good.. now i need to pair it

 

Paul

[FeChef]

An easy way to get "tomato water" is to buy a 28oz can of ground tomatoes and dump into a double screen strainer and leave untouched for 30 minutes or longer. Usually amounts to 8oz clear liquid. I always throw it out since im doing this to make a pizza sauce and want to remove the acidity in the liquid.

[Shalmanese]

I've found you only need a single layer of cheesecloth provided you discard (aka: drink) the first 5 minutes of water coming off the tomatoes. As the tomatoes settle into the filter, they naturally form a dense mat that's enough to filter out the particulates.

[Martin Fisher]

Freeze the tomatos, then collect the water as they thaw in a strainer.

 

 

That's the way I've done it for many years, it produces crystal clear tomato water with a brighter flavor than that from milking cooked tomatoes.

 

I used the technique to make tomato water and conserva from about 50 lbs. of tomatoes just a couple days ago....with more to come.

 

Here's how I do it......

 

I switched to this method long ago because I got tired of processing tomatoes in a super-hot late summer kitchen.

Zero-heat tomato water and rich tomato conserva.

Wash tomatoes thoroughly (preferably a well flavored roma-type, like Martino's Roma or Opalka, but any tomato will work.)

Cut out the stem end of the tomato (this makes peeling easier), place tomatoes on sheet pan and freeze solid.

Remove tomatoes from freezer and run under a slow steady stream of cold water, the skins will easily slip off.

Very coarsely chop the semi-frozen tomatoes (3/4" sized pieces) and place in a cheesecloth or muslim lined colander overnight or until they stop draining (lightly salting will help.) The resulting tomato water will be quite clear.

Run the tomato remains through a food mill to remove the seeds. This is a snap because the freezing does a very good job of breaking down the tomato flesh. The resulting conserva should be thick enough so that a wooden spoon will stand up in it.

I then freeze the conserva or further process it.

This requires some planning ahead, but it produces some very nice tomato water and conserva without a lot of fuss or heat!!!