A customer asked for a 'smoked' tomato soup and I got a surprise

This was about two months ago at the bistro. A regular wanted a twist on our classic tomato soup, something with a 'campfire' feel. I figured, why not try smoking the tomatoes themselves on the grill before blending? I used a mix of Roma and heirloom, gave them a light char over hickory for maybe 15 minutes. The shock was the texture. Instead of breaking down into a smooth puree, the smoked skins turned almost leathery and made the whole soup gritty, no matter how long I ran the blender. It tasted okay, but the mouthfeel was all wrong. I had to start over and just add a touch of smoked paprika to the base, which worked fine. Learned that direct smoking some veggies changes their structure in a way you can't just blend out. Has anyone else run into a texture problem when trying to smoke ingredients for a pureed soup?

3 comments

3 Comments

seanh911mo ago

Tried smoking bell peppers for salsa once, same gritty mess.

the_mary1mo ago

That gritty mess you mentioned made me finally give up on smoking them.

val2238d ago

Wait, you smoked bell peppers? I didn't even know you could do that.