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TOMATO SAUCE (another way) (Halve a dozen ripe tomatoes)
Halve a dozen ripe tomatoes, squeeze out the seeds, and put the fruit into a jar or saucepan with a dessert-spoonful of lean ham cut into dice, a sprig of thyme, a bay-leaf, a large pinch of cayenne, a quarter of a pint of good gravy, or two or three ounces of butter, and either three sliced shallots or a dozen button mushrooms cleaned and cut into small pieces. Stir them over a gentle fire until they are quite soft, then press them through a sieve, add a little salt, and put the sauce again upon the fire till it is very hot. Serve it in a tureen. Time to simmer the tomatoes, about an hour. Probable cost, tomatoes, 2d. to 4d. per pound. Sufficient for six or eight persons.
A straightforward reduced tomato sauce, thickened only by its own pulp and enriched with either gravy or butter. Two details in the text need reading twice before you start.
- "Halve a dozen"The wording is ambiguous: it reads either as "halve a dozen tomatoes" or as a printer's slip for "half a dozen." The yield of six to eight persons gives no decisive answer, since the sauce is served by the spoonful rather than by the plateful; either way, the tomatoes are to be halved.
- Gravy or butter, not bothIn Victorian usage "good gravy" means unthickened meat stock or meat juices, not flour-thickened pan gravy. If you take the butter option instead, the 2-3 oz melted into the pulp gives a sauce closer to a modern butter-enriched puree; the gravy version is thinner and more savoury.
- Old measuresA quarter of a pint is 5 fl oz in imperial measure, a scant 2/3 cup. A dessert-spoonful is about 2 teaspoons, so the diced ham is a seasoning, not an ingredient in its own right.
- The hinge: seed and drain firstSqueezing out the seeds takes much of the loose juice with them, so there is less water to drive off; skip it and the hour's simmering has more work to do before the pulp will thicken.
- Simmering vessel"A jar" here probably means an earthenware jar set at the side of the fire, or standing in a pan of water: gentle, indirect heat. A heavy saucepan over low heat, part-covered, does the same job; stir often, as tomato catches easily once it thickens.
- SievingPress through a fine sieve with a wooden spoon or use a food mill, which is closer to the intended texture than a blender. A blender emulsifies the skins in and gives a paler, frothier sauce.
- Shallots or mushroomsThese are alternatives, and they pull the sauce in different directions: three shallots give sharpness, a dozen button mushrooms give an earthy, almost meaty background. Both are sieved out, so they flavour rather than bulk.
- Reheating and seasoningSalt goes in after sieving, once the volume is fixed, which is sound practice with a reducing sauce. Reheat to just below a boil; hard boiling after sieving dulls the fresh tomato note the hour's simmer was meant to concentrate.
Tomato sauce entered British cookery books through the French kitchen, and the book prints several versions in succession — hence the "another way" of the title. The diced lean ham, thyme, bay and shallot are the classic aromatics of that tradition, and the instruction to sieve reflects a period taste for smooth, glossy sauces served separately in a tureen rather than poured over the dish. The costing, twopence to fourpence a pound, tells us what the ingredient cost at the time; the tomato was still seasonal, which is why so many Victorian books also give versions built on bottled tomato pulp or conserve for the rest of the year.