wayne fajkus wrote:Interesting process. Thanks.
Can someone answer a lazy mans question. Can the straining be skipped? Like put the cooked tomatos in a vitamix and puree the skins and seeds. I've made sauce and wondered why you couldn't shortcut it in this way(sauce or paste). Sundried tomatoes still have them and they are used for cooking albeit in less total concentration in a given recipe
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Good question! I don't even think it's a lazy question. I'd consider it a frugal question, and/or a reducing waste question, with using the whole fruit as a noble goal.
I usually leave the tomato skins in my sauces and soups, usually without even pureeing, though the skins do separate, so that might not be a happy thing for some folks. I'd be tempted to leave all the parts in a paste, too, though I imagine that straining them out creates a finer flavor and/or texture.
Or, I wonder if it's like the story Uncle Mud tells of a family making their grandmother's roast recipe. The following generations always made it according to grandma, including cutting the two ends off the roast. After decades of the family following this recipe/method closely, someone finally asked about the cutting the ends off part. Grandma said that was only to get it to fit in her one and only,
small roasting pan!
I wonder if some tomato skins had some blight scarring, or something on the skin, and folks starting skinning and straining their tomatoes to remove that unfavorable texture.
I'd love to hear from other cooks if they prefer the taste of skinned and/or strained tomatoes.