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Tomato Jelly Salad (To one can stewed and strained)
To one can stewed and strained tomatoes add one teaspoon each of salt and powdered sugar, and two-thirds box gelatine which has soaked fifteen minutes in one-half cup cold water. Pour into small cups, and chill. Run a knife around inside of moulds, so that when taken out shapes may have a rough surface, suggesting a fresh tomato. Place on lettuce leaves and garnish top of each with Mayonnaise Dressing.
A straightforward gelatine salad, but the original leaves out the one step that makes it set: the gelatine has to be dissolved in something warm. Read the notes before you start.
- The hinge: dissolve the gelatineSoaked gelatine will not dissolve in cold tomato pulp. Heat the strained tomatoes to a simmer, take them off the heat, then stir in the bloomed gelatine until no grains remain; strain again if you see any. Letting the mixture cool a little before filling the moulds makes it easier to handle.
- "One can" of tomatoesPeriod can sizes varied; read it as somewhere between 2 and 2 1/2 cups of tomatoes stewed and pushed through a sieve (a modern 14.5 oz to 20 oz can). If your puree comes out thin, reduce it slightly; a watery base tastes weak once chilled.
- "Two-thirds box gelatine"A box of granulated gelatine of this period is usually taken to have held about 1 oz, roughly four of today's quarter-ounce envelopes. Two-thirds of a box would then be about 2 3/4 envelopes, some 6 teaspoons. That is a firm, sliceable set suited to unmoulding.
- Soaking timeFifteen minutes in half a cup of cold water is still right; five to ten is enough for modern powdered gelatine, but longer does no harm. Sheet gelatine can be substituted at about 4 sheets per envelope.
- Salt and sugarMany canned tomatoes today are already salted. Add half the salt and sugar, taste the warm mixture, and adjust before it sets.
- ChillingSmall cups need three to four hours in the refrigerator; overnight is safer if you want clean unmoulding. Dip the mould briefly in warm water if the knife alone will not release it.
- The rough surfaceRunning a knife around the inside both frees the jelly and deliberately scuffs it, so it reads as tomato skin rather than glass-smooth aspic.
- YieldThe recipe gives no yield; the mixture will fill roughly six to eight small moulds of about 1/3 cup each, one per plate as a first course or luncheon salad.
Moulded jellies of vegetable and meat stock were the high style of American salad-making from the 1890s into the 1930s, and the arrival of reliable granulated gelatine sold by the boxed ounce is what put them within reach of an ordinary household cook. Before that, a jelly meant hours of simmering calves' feet or isinglass. The method is visible in every line here: a canned staple, exact spoon measures, and a dish designed to look like something it is not. The lettuce leaf and the spoonful of mayonnaise on top finish the salad, and the pairing of a sharp tomato jelly with a rich egg dressing survives in modern tomato aspic.