Tomato Salad

Ranhofer gives four lines and no quantities, which is normal for the salad chapters of The Epicurean. The technique is sound; only the proportions and a couple of assumptions need filling in.

• PeelingScore a shallow X in the blossom end, drop the tomatoes into boiling water for 15-30 seconds, then into ice water. The skins slip off. Ripe fruit only — an underripe tomato will sit in the water long enough to cook before it lets go.
• Dress in the right orderSalt and pepper the slices first, then vinegar, then oil. Salt dissolves in the vinegar and not in the oil, and oil applied first coats the slices so nothing else penetrates. This is the hinge of an otherwise trivial dish.
• ProportionsRanhofer gives none. Three parts oil to one part vinegar is the usual modern vinaigrette ratio, but his phrasing — vinegar, then 'a little oil' — implies the reverse emphasis. For six medium tomatoes, start with about 1 tablespoon wine vinegar and add oil sparingly, with salt to taste.
• "A little oil"Ranhofer almost certainly means olive oil, the standard salad oil of the period. Since the quantity is left as 'a little', add it sparingly and taste as you go.
• Cut acrossSlicing across the equator rather than through the stem end cuts the seed chambers open and lets them drain. Salt the slices on a rack for ten minutes and pour off the liquid if you want the dressing to stay on the tomato instead of pooling.
• TimingDress within a few minutes of serving. Sliced salted tomatoes shed water steadily and a bowl that sat an hour will be sitting in pink vinegar.
• YieldSix medium tomatoes serve four to six as a side.