# Smoked Roma tomatoes?



## greendrake

My cousin works for a food distributor and just dropped off a flat of roma tomatoes for me to smoke up. Anyone ever smoke maters? I figure I could quarter them, take out the innards and smoke them until just about dry or do I dry them out altogether?


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## scarbelly

I found this link for ya at Webber
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/tomatoes1.html


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## mballi3011

Now thats yet another reason I love this place. Show me another smoking website where someone would even think about smoking tomatoes. Great idea. But what are you gonna do with dried smoked tomatoes?? How about stuff a pork loin with some of them.


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## meateater

I'm thinking low and slow like cheese.


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## street guy

I cold smoked some once. I smoked them till the skins stated to break. Used them to make barbuq sauce. They take on alot of flavor.


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## athabaskar

You can go right down the center of each one with a corer, like an apple corer. Once the centers are out the seeds and juice comes out leaving just the meat. Quarter that and then smoke them gently. You can use them for anything from salads to tomato sauce. Don't worry about losing the juice, as roma juice is not all that great anyway. It is a meaty tomato. If you need more liquid in a recipe add canned tomato sauce. 

I wouldn't core any other variety tomato, but commercial roma is a different breed altogether. Try some. I think you'll be happy with it.


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## westsmoke

How about coring them out and stuffing them with cheese and some peppers? Even leaving the seeds and slicing halfway through and stuffing that sounds good.


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## meat hunter

If you want some great tomato soup, make it with a few smoke tomato's. Very very good.


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## chefrob

smoked caprese salad.........you betcha!!


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## john3198

What temperature, how long, and what wood?


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## b8h8r

I just did some last week......did them like a chili.  Cold smoked for a 3 hours or so whole, then cut & seeded and used as normal.


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## dysartsmoker

http://eatfightwin.blogspot.com/2008...-dressing.html


made something like this this past summer at the camper looks kinda sick but tasty I smoked the tomatoes for around 2-3 hours at 200 also smoked the onion and garlic


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## wutang

I cold smoked some a while back for some salsa. Good stuff.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=74948


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## john3198

Apparently smoked tomatos are more prevelent than I realized. Google it and you will get lots of stuff - especially dressings. Lagasse and Flay on FN have about a dozen reciepes using smoked tomatoes in everything from vinagrete, creamy dressings, salsas, and soups. 

Gonn try this today.


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## john3198

I tried some last night. Intersting. Cut a few Romas in half and tossed with EVOO, S&P. Put them cut side up (wanted to keep the juices) on a veggie tray and onto the grill. Forget about them an had them on about 1 1/2 hours over Hickory at 225-250. 

Results: very nice smokey flavor, but a bit too much. Covered up the tomoato. They were pretty well cooked through. Next smoke I will pull some at 30 min to test. Probably enough.


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## greendrake

Is it possible to preserve them in any way?  I guess I would have to put them in a jar with EVOO or something.  It is quite a bit so I have room to play with some ideas.  A full case of them.  I will have to experiment this weekend with your ideas.


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## john3198

Don't see why you could not water bath can them. We canned lots of tomatos both raw and cooked in salsa's, etc.


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## striper

I'm thinking that if you drop them into boiling water (blanch)for 15-20 seconds, then into cold water you could then peel them quickly and easily.  Then into the smoker should give them a great flavor fairly quickly.  Then use them in just about anything.


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## chisoxjim

for sure,  I smoke tomatoes alot with some jalapenos, habaneros, onions, corn,  etc.   I cut the tomatoes in half smoke them skin side down.   Then toss the whole mix of smoked peppers, tomatoes, etc. in a food processor with some cilantro, and pulse.  makes a nice smoked salsa.


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## greendrake

Can I clean out the seeds and membrane and smoke the outer tomato then freeze them?


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## athabaskar

I usually put them on when I'm smoking a brisket. Low and slow at about 225. The tomatoes will only take about 45 minutes to an hour to pick up the smoke. Typically you'll be using them in another recipe so you don't want to cook them too much. You'll need to find the hot spots on your smoker and adjust accordingly. Have fun with it!

Edited: for wood you might want to stay with something milder. Pecan is good, but hickory or mesquite might be too harsh. Oak is mild enough.


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## artisanbeard

I've smoked some nice San Marzano tomatoes several times. I prefer to do them at around 275 for a little bit to start concentrating the tomato flavor and taking on some smoke...then I finish them by sun-drying them. I'm sure you could dry them mostly on the smoker, but I haven't figured out the "magic formula" of temp/time/ and wood to do that. I didn't want them to get too smokey, so the sun did the rest of the work for me. I've kept them in some olive oil with fresh herbs and garlic, and the oil takes on a great flavor also!


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## morjikar

I just smoked a batch for Smoky Tomato Ketchup. Here's how I did it:  Cut Roma in half, remove seeds.  Oven roast at a low temp. for several hours.  Remove, put in smoker at 180 degrees - I left mine in for 2 hours and they turned out great.  Also threw in some home grown poblano chiles which I plan to freeze in some smoky tomato sauce.  Hope this helps.


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## clovermill

3 hours @ 200-215F for large tomatoes.
For romas, 2 hours or until skin cracks all over.
Smoke them whole.
I chill them afterwards over night, then slice and serve with basil and whole milk mozzarella -or- a goat cheese mornay (if you feel up to making a mornay). 
Good any time of ear if you ask me.


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## maineladychef

How about making ravioli, stuffing them with sweet corn and marscapone, pairing it with smoked Roma tomatoes and some crisped crumbled prosciutto? :)


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## maineladychef

They are WONDERFUL for soups & sauces! For those...Complete drying is not advisable. Also, top grilled pizza with dried or soft smoked

Enjoy!


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## mosparky

This has been putting an itch in the back of my mind for months now. I finally tried some smoked Romas. DAAAANG, we're doing this again.
 The story : I saw an internet recipe for what some call Crack Chicken. Had to.
Always looking for that little something different to put it over the top, I decided "how about serving this on a smoked tomato boat" ? Good call !
The recipe I followed ended up a bit dry and tasteless. I'm sure the problem was too much chicken or not enough cream cheese. Didn't help that I scortched the bacon pretty bad, but that really didn't hurt it much either.
I digress, I got 3 romas, split and cored, makes 6 boats. 2 were lightly salted and placed back in fridge as a base line for taste comparison. I didn't want to even partially cook the Romas, so I set the MES to 80 deg. to ensure a good draft. ( it's 23 outside right now) and lit about 3/4 row of hickory pellets in the AMNPS. Once that was going good, it was into the mailbox, Romas in the MES and wait. After an hour and a half, I couldn't take it anymore. I pulled the Romas. They were the same color as they were going in , so I thought" this isn't a good sign". Man was I wrong ! I ate one straight up just to see. Yes Sir, This is a keeper. At this point I have had 3 Crack chicken sandwiches on buns and one on a plain Roma boat. Now the real test. Crack Chicken on a Smoked Roma boat. YES !!! It was over the top good. I can only imagine what it would be like had the chicken turned out right. I'll have to work on that.
Now  I am considering ABT fillings in Smoked Roma Boats.
I never was a fan of Roma tomatoes before this, I generally find them on the bland side, but they do have the perfect size, shape and anatomy for dishes like this. Now I am a big fan of them.


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## forktender

Smoked tomato pie is awesome.
We smoke just about every veg that we eat in our house throughout the summer.


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