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Tomato Jelly
Cook two cups of tomatoes with one slice of onion, one teaspoon of salt and one-eighth teaspoon of pepper twenty minutes, strain; add two tablespoons of granulated gelatine which has been soaked in one-quarter cup of cold water, and stir until gelatine is dissolved, pour into a border mold which has been previously dipped in cold water.-Maria Willett Howard.
A plain tomato aspic, set firm enough to unmold. The original assumes you know how to handle gelatine and how long a mold needs to chill, so those are the gaps worth filling.
- Bloom the gelatine properlySprinkle the 2 tablespoons over 1/4 cup cold water and leave it five minutes until it swells to a solid mass, then stir it into the hot strained tomato. If it goes into cold liquid or is added dry to hot, it will string and leave grains in the finished jelly.
- Granulated gelatineThis is plain powdered unflavored gelatine, not a sweetened dessert mix. Modern envelopes hold about 2 1/4 teaspoons each, so 2 tablespoons is nearly three envelopes for 2 cups of liquid — a firm set, since the jelly has to stand up out of a mold.
- The tomatoes"Two cups of tomatoes" in a book of this date means stewed or canned tomatoes with their juice, or fresh ones cut up; either works. After twenty minutes of cooking and straining you will lose some volume, so measure the strained purée and top it up to 2 cups with water or tomato juice, or the set will be rubbery.
- Strain, then strain againPress through a sieve fine enough to hold back seeds and skin. For a clear, glossy jelly rather than a cloudy one, follow with a second pass through a damp cloth.
- Border moldA ring mold. Dipping it in cold water rather than oiling it is the period trick — the film of water helps the jelly release. Chill at least 4 hours, or until quite firm; overnight is safer.
- UnmoldingDip the mold in hot water for a few seconds, run a thin knife around the top edge, and invert onto a wet plate so the ring can be nudged into position.
- Yield and servingTwo cups of liquid fills a small ring mold and serves four to six. The hollow center is the point: fill it with chicken or shrimp salad, cucumber and mayonnaise, or dressed greens.
- SeasoningCold blunts salt and acid noticeably. Taste the strained tomato while it is still warm and push the salt and pepper further than seems right, and consider a spoonful of lemon juice for lift.
Molded salads like this one belong to the first great age of packaged gelatine. Once granulated gelatine became a reliable grocery item in the 1890s, the laborious business of boiling calves' feet for a jelly stock receded, and the mold is often said to have appealed to American cookery teachers as a sign of a well-run kitchen: it was cheap, it looked composed on the table, and it turned leftover chicken or a few shrimp into a course. Tomato aspic became the workhorse of the genre, savory enough to carry a salad and colorful enough to need no garnish. Recipes signed by name in this period carried the authority of professional domestic science at a moment when that field was actively shaping how middle-class households cooked.