Grilled Tomatoes

A plain method that depends almost entirely on the tomato: a dense, meaty fruit holds its shape over direct heat, while a juicy salad tomato collapses into the fire. Everything else is timing and seasoning.

• Choose the right tomato"Dark red solid-meated" means a thick-walled, low-gel variety — paste types such as Roma or San Marzano, or a firm beefsteak. Avoid watery slicing tomatoes and anything overripe, which will slump before the cut face colours.
• Cut across, not downTrimming the blossom and stem ends and halving once crosswise gives two flat equatorial rounds with the seed chambers exposed and the walls intact. Halving lengthwise leaves a curved surface that will not sit flat on the wire.
• The fine wire broilerThis is a hinged double gridiron of closely spaced wire that clamps the food and is held over coals, then flipped whole. A cast-iron grill pan, a fish basket, or a preheated sheet under a broiler element all substitute; a fine grate matters more than the fuel, since a wide-barred grill lets the halves sag through.
• Heat and time"A hot fire" is direct high heat. Three to eight minutes a side is a real range: thin halves want the low end, thick paste tomatoes the high end. Look for a browned, slightly blistered cut face and flesh that yields but is not weeping.
• Skins left onThe unpeeled skin is the structure here; it becomes the cup that holds the softened flesh. Expect it to blacken in patches, which is correct, and expect it to slip if you turn the halves more than once.
• Cream sauceIn a book of this period that means a plain white sauce — butter and flour cooked together, milk or cream whisked in, seasoned with salt, pepper and sometimes a little nutmeg. Season it firmly; the tomatoes are acidic and will flatten a bland sauce.
• YieldAllow two halves per person as a side dish with steak, or three on toast as a light supper course. Season after cooking, as the original directs — salt drawn out early makes the halves weep on the wire.