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Tomato Blocks
Select the most solid portions of a can of tomatoes, or use firm, fresh ones. Heat until soft, press through a sieve and then return to the fire and allow to simmer until it is reduced to a thick paste. To a half-cup of this paste add the whites of two eggs, slightly beaten, one-fourth saltspoon of salt and the same of paprika. A little tabasco may be added if liked. Pour this mixture into a shallow pan or earthware pie plate, place in hot water and bake in the oven until firm. When cool, cut into fancy shapes and serve several of these blocks in each portion of soup. These are especially good in plain consommé.
This is a savoury egg-white custard baked in a water bath, then cut into shapes as a garnish for clear soup — a tomato version of what a French kitchen would call a royale. Two things decide whether it works: how far you reduce the tomato, and how gently you bake it.
- The hinge: gentle, moist heatEgg white sets at a low temperature and turns rubbery and weeping if pushed. The recipe names no oven temperature; a moderate oven, around 325F, with the pan pulled the moment the centre is firm to a light touch, suits a thin layer in a water bath.
- SaltspoonA saltspoon is about a quarter teaspoon, so one-fourth of one is a pinch — the same for the paprika. Season the paste to taste before the whites go in.
- How much tomato you needA 28-ounce can, drained of its thinnest liquid and simmered down, yields somewhere near half a cup of thick paste. Reduce until a spoon drawn through leaves a clean track; watery paste will not set cleanly.
- Modern tube or canned tomato paste is not a substituteToday's commercial paste is far more concentrated and tastes cooked rather than fresh, and some brands are salted. If you use it, thin it with a little water or stock to the consistency of thick apple sauce, and check the seasoning before adding salt.
- Egg whites onlyUsing whites alone gives a firm, sliceable set with a matte finish that holds an edge when cut. Whole eggs make a softer, more tender custard, though royales made that way are still cut into shapes.
- The panAn "earthware pie plate" is a shallow ceramic dish; any straight-sided ceramic or glass dish will do. Butter it lightly and set it in a larger roasting pan with hot water reaching halfway up the sides.
- CuttingCool completely, then chill an hour before cutting — cold custard takes a clean line from a small aspic cutter or a paring knife. Warm it briefly in a little hot stock or drop the shapes into the soup at the last moment so they arrive hot without breaking up.
- YieldHalf a cup of paste with two whites makes a thin layer in a 9-inch plate, enough for four to six portions at three or four small shapes each.
Garnishes like this belong to the age of the clear soup, when a consommé was judged on its transparency and everything floating in it was cut to shape. The French model is the royale, a moulded savoury custard of stock, cream or purée baked in a bain-marie and cut into diamonds, rounds or stars; German and Austrian kitchens keep a close cousin in Eierstich. The Butterick Cook Book, produced around 1911 by the pattern company for the same readers who bought its dress patterns, files this under Soup Accessories alongside croutons and forcemeat balls — a page of small ways to make a plain broth look composed. The tabasco is the American note: a proprietary Louisiana pepper sauce that had been on the market since the late 1860s and by this date was ordinary pantry stock rather than an exotic addition.