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Tomato Jelly
Soak three-fourths a box of gelatine in half a cup of cold water. Cook a can of tomatoes, half an onion, a stalk of celery, a bay leaf, two cloves, a teaspoonful of salt and a dash of paprica ten minutes. Add two tablespoonfuls of tarragon vinegar and the gelatine, stir till dissolved, strain, and mould in a ring mould. When cold turn from the mould and fill the centre with
A firm, savoury aspic of the sort meant to be turned out whole and filled. The proportions are period ones, and the gelatine measure in particular needs translating before you start.
- Three-fourths a box of gelatineA box of granulated gelatine then held about an ounce; three-fourths of it is roughly 3/4 oz, or about three of today's quarter-ounce envelopes (a little over 2 tablespoons). That will set around 3 cups of liquid firmly enough to stand unsupported on a plate.
- A can of tomatoesPeriod cans of tomatoes were larger than today's small ones, ranging from about 1 lb 4 oz up to roughly a quart depending on the size used. A modern 28-oz can is the nearer equivalent, not a 14.5-oz one. Use the larger size, juice and all, or the jelly will be short of liquid for the gelatine given.
- Soften first, dissolve secondThe gelatine goes into cold water to swell (five minutes is enough, though the recipe does not say), then into the hot tomato off the boil. Prolonged boiling of the dissolved gelatine can weaken the set.
- PapricaSimply paprika. The paprika available at the time was generally a mild sweet Hungarian or Spanish type, used for colour and warmth; use a sweet one rather than a hot or smoked paprika.
- Tarragon vinegarStill sold, and worth seeking out; it carries the anise note that lifts the tomato. Plain white wine vinegar with a bruised tarragon sprig steeped in it for an hour is a fair stand-in. Add it after the cooking, as directed, so the aroma survives.
- Strain properlyPush the mixture through a fine sieve rather than a colander, pressing the pulp to get body without seeds or skin. A clear-ish, lightly thickened liquid gives the glossy set that makes this dish worth doing; over-pressing gives a cloudy, grainy jelly.
- Chilling and unmouldingRinse the ring mould in cold water before filling so the jelly releases. It needs four hours in the refrigerator, and overnight is better. Dip the mould a few seconds in warm water and invert onto a wet plate, which lets you slide the ring into position.
- The missing endingThe text breaks off mid-sentence at the filling, so what this recipe specified cannot be recovered from the fragment. A salad filling of the period sort -- cucumber, chicken or shrimp, or dressed lettuce with mayonnaise -- finishes it in keeping with the form.
- YieldAbout 3 1/2 cups of jelly, which fills a 1-quart ring mould and serves six as a first course or salad.
Janet McKenzie Hill's Salads, Sandwiches and Chafing-Dish Dainties appeared at the very end of the 1890s, when moulded salads were an established part of American cooking. Two things made them possible: commercially canned tomatoes, cheap and reliable by the 1880s, and granulated gelatine sold in boxes, which spared the cook the day-long business of boiling calves' feet for stock. A ring mould filled at the last moment was one company presentation available to the period's cooks. The tarragon vinegar and bay-and-clove aromatics show the French-influenced seasoning taught at the Boston Cooking School, where Hill trained and later edited the Boston Cooking School Magazine. The dish survived long after its era, drifting through the twentieth century into the sweeter, softer tomato aspics of mid-century American cookbooks.