Brown the tomato paste
Straight from the tube, paste tastes sharp and a bit metallic. Fry it in oil over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until bright red turns brick red. The water cooks off and the sugars brown.
Fry the paste before adding liquid
Browning needs a pan far hotter than 100°C and very little water. Liquid holds a pot near 100°C, so nothing browns. Fry the paste in oil first, then add the stock, wine or tomatoes.
Keep stirring the paste
Paste is thick and sugary, so it scorches fast. Keep it moving over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes and pull it once it hits brick red. Burnt paste turns bitter.
Test yourself
Questions from the interactive lesson, with the answer and the why.
You fry tomato paste in oil before building one sauce. In a second sauce, you stir it straight into stock. How does the first sauce differ from the second?
The fried one tastes deeper and sweeter. Browning builds savory flavor that raw paste lacks.
True or false: Cooking tomato paste in oil makes it taste less raw and tinny.
True. Browning mellows the sharp, metallic edge and builds savory flavor.
What went wrong? You stir tomato paste into simmering stock. The sauce tastes sharp and flat.
The paste was never browned in oil. Paste has to fry in oil before any liquid goes in, or it stays raw-tasting.
Fill the blank: Tomato paste stops browning once there is too much ___ in the pan.
Tomato paste stops browning once there is too much water in the pan. Water holds the pan near 100°C, which is too cool to brown.