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Whole Tomato Salad
Select fine, ripe tomatoes of equal size, scald and skim and then set on ice until time for serving. Previous to the time for using, line a salad dish with lettuce leaves and pile tomatoes in the center, forming a mound. Serve on individual dishes with mayonnaise dressing made by previous recipe. This is very nice.
A composed salad that depends entirely on the quality of the tomatoes and on getting them cold. Two words in the original need translating before you start.
- "Scald and skim" is a typo for skin"Scald and skim" is almost certainly a misprint for skin -- Dip the tomatoes in boiling water for 15-30 seconds, then into ice water, and the skins slip off. Cut a shallow X in the blossom end first if they are stubborn.
- "Set on ice" means thoroughly coldPeeled tomatoes go soft and weepy if they sit long, so chill them no more than two or three hours. Refrigerate them on a plate rather than submerged in water, which leaches flavour.
- Choose the right tomatoWhole tomatoes served skinless need firm flesh and thick walls: small round slicers, or large plum types, hold their shape. Heirlooms with soft shoulders collapse into the lettuce.
- Salt at the last momentThe original omits seasoning entirely. A little salt applied just before the mayonnaise goes on lifts the flavour without drawing out water and thinning the dressing.
- The mayonnaise"Made by previous recipe" presumably refers to a hand-beaten oil-and-egg-yolk mayonnaise, though that recipe is not reproduced here. Any good mayonnaise works; some period versions were loosened with a spoonful of cream or lemon juice, which suits tomatoes better than a stiff modern jarred one.
- Assembly and yieldOne tomato per person, built into a mound on a bed of leaves, with the dressing passed or spooned over at the table so the pile does not slump. The original states no yield; count tomatoes to guests.
Whole-fruit salads like this belong to the turn-of-the-century vogue for tomatoes served cold and dressed: tomatoes were also long subject to a convention of cooking them long and hard, often stewed for hours, though raw tomatoes with salt, sugar or vinegar were common well before mid-century and the two practices coexisted. By the 1890s domestic cookbooks were full of tomato salads, tomato jelly and stuffed tomatoes, and mayonnaise, once a restaurant flourish, had become a standard home dressing. The instruction to "set on ice" is a reminder that this was written for a household with an icebox and a regular ice delivery, and the salad's whole appeal is that contrast of a chilled, skinned tomato against crisp lettuce and rich dressing. The closing verdict, "This is very nice," is the kind of personal endorsement often attached to recipes passed along in this period.