Home › Vegetables › Scalloped Tomatoes and Potatoes
Scalloped Tomatoes and Potatoes
Peel and chop, or cut in small pieces, enough tomatoes to make 1 pint. Season with salt, pepper, and a little onion juice. Peel and chop enough potatoes to make 1 cupful. Butter a baking-dish and sprinkle lightly with fine bread crumbs, and put in half the tomatoes, then half the potatoes. Lay over them soft crackers, buttered and broken in bits. Sprinkle over the crackers 2 spoonfuls of grated American cheese. Then add the rest of the tomatoes, the potatoes, and more cracker crumbs; put bits of butter plentifully over the top and bake in a hot oven thirty minutes, and serve at once. Canned tomatoes may be used for scalloping or cooking, and corn or rice may be substituted for potatoes.
A simple layered gratin that depends on one thing: the potatoes must be cut small enough to cook through in the same half hour the tomatoes need.
- Cut the potatoes fineRaw potato in a 30-minute bake will stay hard unless it is diced no larger than 1/4 inch, or sliced very thin. If in doubt, parboil the dice for five minutes and drain well before layering.
- A hot ovenRead this as somewhere in the 400-450F range; 425F is a safe choice. At that heat the crumb and butter topping browns in the same time the interior sets.
- American cheeseIn a book of this vintage this means plain factory-made cheddar, not the processed slices sold under the name now. Use a sharp or medium cheddar, grated.
- Soft crackersSoda or water crackers, buttered and broken in bits as the recipe directs. Common saltines work; crackers of the period were generally thicker than today's thin ones, so use two or three per layer rather than crushing a handful.
- SpoonfulsIn books of this period an unqualified 'spoonful' generally means a tablespoon, so about two tablespoons of grated cheese: a light seasoning rather than a cheese layer. Increase it to 1/3 cup if you want the dish to read as cheesy.
- Onion juiceGrate half a small onion and use the liquid that collects, roughly a teaspoon. Grated onion itself works and adds a little body.
- Canned tomatoesA pint is one standard 14-15 oz can plus a little. Drain off most of the packing liquid or the dish will be soupy and the crumbs will not crisp.
- YieldAbout four side-dish servings in a 1-quart dish. Let it stand five minutes before serving so the layers hold.