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Tomato Stuffing
Follow the proportions for Plain Bread Stuffing, adding one-half cup of thick canned tomato pulp and moistening with tomato juice instead of water. Season with sage.
A variation rather than a standalone recipe: it assumes you already have the book's Plain Bread Stuffing in front of you and simply swaps the moistening liquid. The whole trick is keeping the mixture from turning to paste.
- The base it depends onPeriod plain bread stuffings run roughly a quart of soft stale breadcrumbs to a third of a cup of melted butter, with salt, pepper and a little onion. Use whatever proportions the book's own Plain Bread Stuffing gives; this page only changes the liquid and the herb.
- Canned tomato pulp"Pulp" in this sort of recipe generally meant strained tomato solids with the seeds and skins removed, thicker than juice and thinner than paste. Tomato puree or passata is the closest current equivalent; if you use canned crushed tomatoes, drain off the loose liquid first and save it for the moistening.
- Tomato juice as the moistenerAdd it a spoonful at a time. Tomato liquid is more acidic and slightly sweeter than water or stock, and bread takes it up quickly; the mixture should hold together when squeezed but still fall apart when prodded.
- Sage, measuredThe original leaves the amount open. For a quart of crumbs, a teaspoon of dried rubbed sage or a tablespoon of chopped fresh is a fair starting point, added early so it softens in the moisture rather than tasting dusty.
- Acid and butterThe tomato cuts the richness of the butter, so taste for salt after mixing. You will likely want more than the plain version calls for, and a pinch of sugar if the canned tomato is sharp.
- Cooking itThe original gives no cooking directions; treat what follows as modern practice. Baked in a dish, allow roughly 30 to 40 minutes in a moderate oven (about 350F), covered for the first half so it steams and then uncovered to brown. If it goes inside a bird, the centre of the stuffing itself must reach 165F, which can leave the bird overdone; baking it separately is the more reliable route.
- YieldWorking from a quart of crumbs plus the half cup of tomato pulp, you should have roughly enough to fill a small chicken, or to serve about six as a side dish; the original states no yield.
Bread stuffings moistened with something other than water are the small economies that fill out American household manuals of this period: the base recipe stays fixed and variations such as tomato, oyster, chestnut, celery and sausage are commonly listed after it as short substitutions. Commercial canning of tomatoes expanded greatly in the United States through the late nineteenth century, and by the time books of this kind were written a can of tomato was an ordinary pantry item rather than a luxury, cheap enough to use as a moistening liquid.