Chef Juliette
The Seasoning of Salads
Five dressings, one governing lesson: match fat and acid to the salad itself, from tender lettuce under fresh cream to bitter dandelion leaves glossed with hot bacon fat.
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Tomato Salad
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 1995, Tomato Salad, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Salade de tomates makes discipline visible: firm red flesh, skinned and pressed clean of watery seeds, sliced into neat strips, then glossed with oil, vinegar, and the green lift of tarragon.
Salads
French
Weeknight
Quick Meal
Outdoor Dining
25 min
Active Time
5 min cook•35 min total
Yield4 servings
Salade de tomates teaches one true thing before you touch the saucepan: pressing is the salad. Scalding removes the skins, but clearing the cross-cut halves of juice and seeds gives the dressing somewhere to cling. Leave that water behind and the oil skates into a pink puddle; remove it and every strip tastes fully of tomato, vinegar, and tarragon.
The classical entry assumed a brigade peeling and seeding enough tomatoes for a full service, with boiling water ready, quick hands, and the dressing poured by eye. Your honest equivalent is one saucepan, one bowl of cold water, and six tomatoes for four people. I supplied a restrained 3:1 measure where the entry gives none, three tablespoons oil to one tablespoon vinegar, enough to gloss the flesh without drowning it. Brigade volume is scaffolding; scalding, skinning, crosswise halving, pressing, and cutting into strips are the dish and must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
Choose tomatoes that smell ripe at the stem but remain taut beneath your thumb. Press each half with a cupped hand, firmly enough to empty the seed chambers and gently enough to preserve the walls. That pressure is the one step that decides the salad.
The simple tomato-and-oil salad lives naturally at Provençal household tables, but this skinned, seeded, tarragon-dressed version belongs to the national classical hors-d'œuvre repertoire rather than to Provence alone. As the preparation moved through bistros and grand kitchens, cooks removed skins and watery seed pulp so the tomato flesh would hold its seasoning cleanly on a composed platter. Its precision is often mistaken for decoration, yet the purpose is practical: a dry, tender strip carries vinaigrette better than an unpeeled slice swimming in juice.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
medium firm ripe tomatoes
Quantity
6 (about 2 lb / 900 g)
mild olive oil
Quantity
3 tablespoons (45 ml / 41 g)
wine vinegar
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g)
fresh tarragon leaves
Quantity
1 tablespoon loosely packed (15 ml / 3 g)
finely chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| medium firm ripe tomatoes | 6 (about 2 lb / 900 g) |
| mild olive oil | 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 41 g) |
| wine vinegar | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g) |
| fresh tarragon leavesfinely chopped | 1 tablespoon loosely packed (15 ml / 3 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •4-quart (3.8-liter) wide saucepan
- •Medium bowl for cold water
- •Slotted spoon
- •Sharp paring knife
- •Small whisk and wide shallow mixing bowl
Instructions
- 1
Scald the tomatoes
Bring a wide saucepan of water to a full boil and set a bowl of very cold water beside it. Lower in two or three tomatoes at a time and scald them for 20 to 30 seconds, rolling them once, just until the skins wrinkle or begin to split. Lift them immediately into the cold water. The flesh must remain firm; you are loosening the skin, not cooking the tomato.
Test one tomato first. If its skin clings, return it to the boiling water for another 10 seconds rather than cutting away good flesh with the peel. - 2
Slip off skins
As soon as the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, lift them from the water and peel from any loosened seam. Use the tip of a paring knife only for a stubborn patch, then cut out the firm stem core. Do not leave the peeled tomatoes soaking; water on the surface will follow them into the dressing.
- 3
Press out seeds
Cut every tomato in half crosswise so the seed chambers are exposed. Hold one half cut-side down over a bowl, cup it gently in your palm, and press once or twice while a fingertip coaxes out the remaining seeds. The goal is seedless flesh that keeps its shape, not purée. If a very ripe half collapses, ça se rattrape: place the damaged flesh in a sieve for 5 minutes, then cut it as neatly as it allows. The salad will be less regular, but it need not be watery.
- 4
Cut thin strips
Set the emptied halves cut-side down on the board and slice them into strips about ¼ inch (6 mm) wide. Keep the knife moving cleanly rather than sawing, which bruises the flesh. Transfer the strips to a wide, shallow bowl so their remaining weight does not crush the pieces underneath.
- 5
Dress with tarragon
Make the vinaigrette, the oil-and-vinegar emulsion, by whisking the wine vinegar while adding the olive oil in a thin stream. Add the tomato strips and chopped tarragon, then turn everything gently with two spoons until each surface carries a light sheen. Let the salad stand for 5 minutes and turn it once more. If liquid gathers beneath it, lift the strips to a clean platter and spoon over only enough re-whisked vinaigrette to glaze them. Serve promptly, cool rather than refrigerator-cold. À table!
Chef Tips
- •This dish needs its season. Canned tomatoes are splendid in a sauce, but they cannot supply firm flesh for scalding, pressing, and cutting into strips. If the fresh tomatoes are pale, hard, and scentless, save this salad for their better cousins.
- •Medium tomatoes are easier to scald evenly than one enormous tomato, and their walls usually survive pressing with more grace. Buy one extra if the basket includes a particularly soft specimen.
- •Fresh tarragon is essential here. Chop it immediately before dressing so its anise fragrance stays bright; dried tarragon is too coarse and dusty for a salad with nowhere to hide it.
- •Keep the vinaigrette spare. Mustard, shallot, and garlic may make other good tomato salads, but they are not in this preparation. Its character comes from subtraction: skinless flesh, no seed pulp, oil, vinegar, tarragon.
Advance Preparation
- •The tomatoes may be scalded, skinned, pressed, and kept covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 hours. Cut and dress them shortly before serving, then allow them to lose the refrigerator chill.
- •Chop the tarragon and make the vinaigrette at the last moment. Once dressed, serve the salad within 30 minutes, before the vinegar softens the strips and draws out more juice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 175g)
Calories
125 calories
Total Fat
11 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
9 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
10 mg
Total Carbohydrates
6 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
1 g
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