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Tomatoes with Mayonnaise
Plunge six fresh, sound, good-sized red tomatoes in boiling water one minute, remove, peel and let get cold. Then cut in quarters, place in a salad bowl, pour over them two tablespoons dressing. Mix gently, then spread a mayonnaise sauce over them, and at the last moment gently mix and immediately serve.
A two-sauce tomato salad: the tomatoes are first seasoned with vinaigrette, then coated with mayonnaise at the table. The whole point is that the mayonnaise goes on last and stays thick, so timing is everything.
- The hinge: dress at the last momentMayonnaise loosened by tomato juice turns into a pink slick within minutes. Quarter and vinaigrette the tomatoes ahead if you like, but spoon the mayonnaise over and fold it in only as the bowl goes to the table.
- "Two tablespoons dressing"Presumably a plain French dressing of oil and vinegar with salt and pepper; the recipe does not give proportions. Two tablespoons is a light seasoning coat for six tomatoes, not a soaking.
- "A mayonnaise sauce"The recipe gives no recipe for it; a stiff, thick mayonnaise is what the dish needs, since anything loose will slide off. About 1/2 to 3/4 cup of good thick mayonnaise covers six tomatoes; thin it with nothing. If you use commercial mayonnaise, a spoonful of lemon juice sharpens it.
- PeelingOne minute in boiling water is right for ripe summer tomatoes; underripe ones may need 30 seconds more. Slip them straight into ice water so the flesh does not cook and go soft under the skin.
- Getting them cold"Let get cold" at least means cooled through; chilling them will do no harm. Warm tomatoes will loosen the mayonnaise faster and the salad tastes flat.
- Drain before dressingQuartered tomatoes shed a surprising amount of liquid. Tip the quarters into a sieve for a few minutes, or salt them lightly and drain, before anything is poured over.
- YieldSix tomatoes serve four to six as a side salad. It does not keep — leftovers are watery within the hour.
Tomato salad bound with mayonnaise is often placed in the moment when the tomato is said to have shed its old reputation as a suspect curiosity and become an ordinary summer vegetable on European and American tables. The double dressing works in two stages: the vinaigrette seasons the flesh from within while the mayonnaise supplies richness on the surface. Mayonnaise itself is generally traced to the western Mediterranean, its name often linked to Port Mahón in Menorca, though the connection is traditional rather than documented. Blanching and peeling reads fussy now, but it distinguished a composed salad from a plate of sliced raw tomato.