Baked Eggs

A one-pan baked egg with a tomato for a shell. The only real variable is oven time, which the original leaves open.

• Oven temperatureA "moderate oven" in books of this period is usually given as somewhere between 350F and 375F. At that heat a single egg in a tomato is likely to need something like 20 to 25 minutes for a set white with a soft yolk, longer if you want the yolk firm; the original gives no time at all, so judge by eye.
• Choose the tomato for structureA firm, thick-walled tomato holds its shape; a soft ripe slicer will slump and leak. Leave a good half-inch wall when you scoop, or the shell collapses around the egg.
• Salt and drain firstSalt the hollowed tomato lightly and turn it upside down for ten minutes before filling. Tomato flesh sheds a surprising amount of liquid, which otherwise pools under the egg and keeps the white loose.
• Ramekin or baking cupThe cup is a support, not a cooking vessel in its own right. Any small oven-safe dish that fits the tomato snugly will do; if it is loose, crumple a little foil around the base.
• Judging donenessEgg proteins finish setting off the heat. Pull the dish when the white is opaque but the yolk still trembles, since the hot tomato continues to cook it for a minute or two.
• MargarineButter or margarine is offered here as a straightforward substitution, an allowance common in American cookbooks of the mid-twentieth century. Either works; butter contributes more flavour to a dish with very few ingredients.
• Yield and servingOne tomato feeds one person as a light main or a breakfast dish. Buttered toast is a natural accompaniment, though the recipe itself says nothing about how it was to be served.
• Scaling upSeveral tomatoes bake happily side by side in a muffin tin or shallow dish. Break each egg into a cup first and slide it in, so a broken yolk does not ruin the tomato.