Concassé

Concassé is a French culinary term meaning roughly chopped or crushed. In professional kitchens, it most commonly refers to tomato concassé: tomatoes that have been peeled, seeded and diced or chopped into small, even pieces. It is used in sauces, garnishes, salads and other preparations where a clean tomato texture is desired without the skin and seeds.

How to make tomato concassé

1. Choose ripe, firm tomatoes and remove the stem core.
2. Score a shallow cross in the skin at the base of each tomato.
3. Blanch briefly in boiling water until the skin begins to loosen, then transfer to ice water to stop the cooking.
4. Peel the skin away, cut the tomato into quarters and remove the seeds and watery core.
5. Dice the flesh evenly or chop it to the size required by the recipe.

Uses for tomato concassé

• Sauces: add to fish sauces, vegetable preparations and light tomato sauces.
• Garnishes: use as a fresh tomato component in composed dishes.
• Bruschetta: combine with olive oil, herbs and seasoning for a topping.
• Sauce vierge: fold into a fresh sauce with olive oil, herbs and acid to accompany fish or seafood.

Concassé versus brunoise

Concassé describes a roughly chopped preparation, most commonly peeled and seeded tomato. Brunoise is a precise small dice with defined dimensions. Tomato concassé may be diced, but it is not automatically a brunoise.

Chef’s tip

Use tomatoes that are ripe but still firm enough to hold their shape. Remove excess seeds and liquid when the recipe needs a clean, defined dice, and keep the pieces covered and refrigerated until use.

Watch the tomato concassé demonstration