How to pick a good tomato (and salvage a bad one)

Long before Suzanne Cupps knew she wanted to be a chef, she knew she loved tomato sandwiches. Throughout her childhood summers, she would visit her grandfather on his central Pennsylvania farm, where he would press thick slices of ripe tomatoes, still fragrant from the vine, between white bread slathered with mayonnaise. He made that sandwich every day before lunch and before dinner, just for her, because it was her favourite.

It remains a favourite even as she has created countless tomato dishes in her work and now as chef of her own restaurant, Lola’s, in New York City. Cupps works closely with farmers to get the tastiest fruit but recognises that most home cooks don’t have that option. And, even for those who grow their own, some seasons yield better fruit than others.

Here, then, are her tips for how to avoid mealy, flavourless tomatoes and what to do with them when you can’t avoid them: Don’t Refrigerate 

The way tomatoes look — round and taut or amoebic and ridged — doesn’t correlate with their flavour. “They’re one of the trickiest crops because it’s hard to tell which are good”, Cupps said. What she is certain of is that mealy tomatoes are “the worst and putting them in the fridge makes them mealy”. 

Buy in a Range of Ripeness Ripe 

Tomatoes carry the most intense sweetness, tang and juiciness. Give the tomatoes a little squeeze and choose some that feel like water balloons to eat immediately and firmer ones for later in the week. Once home, Cupps says, set them stem side down on a kitchen towel to prevent bruising and in a cool place to keep them from ripening too quickly.

Blend Them Into Soups and Sauces

Breaking down mealy tomatoes in a blender or food processor eliminates their wet-sand sadness. Cupps considers making gazpacho to be the easiest way to do this and also suggests blending mediocre tomatoes with vinegar, olive oil and shallot (or your favourite vinaigrette) for a summery salad dressing.

Cook Them Down 

The most low-effort way to deal with a lot of mealy tomatoes is to roast them. Second to that is slowly simmering them into pasta sauce, soup or tomato jam, or searing them for salsa.

Add Flavour Bombs 

If you really want to bite into some nice tomatoes but have only mealy ones, try the art of distraction: Add punchy heat, as in the accompanying kimchi soup, or simply mix chopped tomatoes with any chile paste. “It’s a way to bring that freshness and also flavour — that’s also some of what those tomatoes are missing”, Cupps said.

This may be your lucky summer, with nothing but slick, sweet tomatoes destined for tomato sandwiches. But if you end up with some that are less than stellar, you can still save — and savour — them. 

— The New York Times