Cucumber and Tomato Salad

A cross-reference rather than a standalone recipe: everything but the tomato comes from No. 2661, the English-style cucumber salad, which is peeled cucumbers sliced very thin and dressed with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Read the two entries together before you start.

• The hinge: draw the water out firstBoth cucumber and tomato shed liquid the moment salt touches them, and a dressed salad left standing turns into a puddle of thin vinaigrette. Salt the sliced cucumber, let it drain 20-30 minutes, press gently, and dress only at the table.
• "Very firm" is the whole instruction on tomatoesRanhofer is asking for a tomato that will hold a clean slice, not a ripe soft one that collapses. Choose tomatoes slightly underripe by eating standards, or use firm-fleshed plum types.
• Peeling tomatoesThe recipe specifies peeled tomatoes. Score the skin, dip 15-20 seconds in boiling water, then into cold water and the skin slips off; chill the peeled tomato before slicing so it stays firm.
• "English style" dressing proportionsNo proportions are given in this entry. A plain oil-and-vinegar dressing of roughly two parts oil to one of vinegar, with salt and white pepper, is one common period formula; three to one suits modern taste better, particularly with acidic tomato already in the bowl.
• The onionTake it as a small quantity of onion sliced paper-thin, not a chopped handful. Soaking the slices in cold water for ten minutes and draining them removes the harsh edge without losing the flavour.
• Slicing thicknessA mandoline or the thin slot of a box grater gets the cucumber very thin; a knife alone rarely does. Tomatoes are better cut by hand so the flesh is not crushed.
• YieldNo quantities are given anywhere in the entry. One large cucumber, two firm tomatoes and half a small onion make four modest side servings.