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Crab Meat in Tomatoes
Scald six nice, ripe, fresh, red tomatoes in boiling water for one minute, lift up and peel. Cut off a piece at three-quarters of the height of the tomatoes, to be used as a cover, then with a spoon carefully scoop out the meat without cutting the shells, place and keep on the ice till required. Place one and a half pounds fresh crab-meat flakes in a bowl, season with four tablespoons dressing, mix well, then season interiors of the tomatoes with a half teaspoon salt and three saltspoons pepper. Divide the crab meat in the six tomato shells, giving a nice dome-like shape, spread a little mayonnaise sauce on top of each, sprinkle over a half teaspoon chopped parsley, arrange an anchovy in oil ring-like on top of each. Place the tomato on clean lettuce leaves, lay them on a cold dish and serve. N.B. Place the scooped-out tomato meat in the demi-glace pan.
A cold composed salad from the era when the stuffed tomato was a fixture of hotel luncheon menus. It is assembly work, so the quality of the crab and the firmness of the tomatoes decide the result.
- SaltspoonA saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon, so three saltspoons is roughly 3/4 teaspoon of pepper. That is a good deal for six tomatoes; season by taste rather than by the letter.
- "Dressing"The recipe calls for mayonnaise separately for the top, so the "dressing" mixed into the crab is evidently something else, most likely a plain oil-and-vinegar French dressing. Four tablespoons for 1 1/2 lb of crab is a light coating.
- The crab"Fresh crab-meat flakes" means picked, already-cooked crab, sold today as lump or backfin. A pound and a half serves six generously; refrigerated pasteurised lump works, canned claw meat does not hold its flakes.
- Choosing tomatoesUse firm, thick-walled tomatoes that will stand up when hollowed. Very ripe modern slicing tomatoes collapse; beefsteak or a large plum type holds the shell.
- PeelingThe recipe scalds for one minute and then peels; it does not specify an ice-water bath, though dropping the tomatoes into ice water after scalding loosens the skins without softening the flesh.
- The cut lidThe recipe says the cut piece is 'to be used as a cover', but no later step puts it back, and the crab is domed above the rim. Either set the lids alongside on the plate or leave them off.
- Salting and drainingSalt the hollowed shells and invert them on a rack for ten minutes before filling, or the released liquid thins the dressing on the plate.
- AnchovyOne oil-packed fillet curled into a ring on each dome. Rinse and pat dry if the tin is heavily salted, or it overwhelms the crab.
- The demi-glace noteThe final line is a professional kitchen instruction rather than part of the dish: the scooped pulp is sent to the demi-glace pan, i.e. into the day's brown sauce. At home, keep it for soup or sauce.
- Yield and timingSix portions, one tomato each, as a first course or luncheon salad. Fill no more than an hour ahead and keep cold; mayonnaise on a wet tomato slides after that.
Filippini spent his career in the Delmonico's orbit, and this recipe reads like restaurant work: fixed count of six, a garnish specified to the anchovy, and a closing aside directing the trimmings to the demi-glace pan, which only makes sense in a kitchen with a sauce station running all day. The hollowed raw tomato filled with a bound salad is often described as one of the standard cold luncheon presentations of the turn of the century, appearing with chicken, lobster, shrimp or crab according to the market, and it presumably leaned on two things becoming more ordinary in city kitchens: reliable ice for chilling and commercially picked crab meat. The anchovy ring on top is the period's habit of finishing a mild cold dish with something sharp and salty, the same instinct that put a caper or a truffle slice on so many hotel plates of the day.