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Tomato Aspic
Cover a quarter of a box of gelatine with one-quarter of a cupful of cold water; soak one-half hour; strain it; one pint of tomatoes; add small slice of onion, teaspoonful of salt, dash of cayenne, one-half teaspoonful of paprika, bay leaf, one-half teaspoonful of celery seed. Stir over fire until hot, add gelatine and when dissolved, strain and turn out into small molds to harden.
A clean, workable gelatine recipe whose only real obstacle is the measurement by box. Everything else translates directly.
- A quarter box of gelatineGranulated gelatine was commonly sold in boxes divided into four envelopes of about a quarter-ounce each, so a quarter box corresponds roughly to one modern envelope, about 2 to 2 1/2 teaspoons. That is about the standard proportion for setting one pint of liquid firmly enough to unmold, though box sizes varied between makers.
- Blooming and "strain it"Soaking the gelatine in cold water for half an hour is blooming, and it still matters: dry granules dropped into hot tomato clump. With modern granulated gelatine the instruction to strain the softened gelatine can generally be ignored; add the whole soft mass to the hot tomato.
- A pint of tomatoesMost likely canned tomatoes, two cups, juice and all. A 14.5-ounce can plus a little juice comes close. Fresh tomatoes carry more water and will need reducing, and may want more salt.
- Do not boilDo not boil hard -- The recipe has you heat the tomato with the seasonings and add the gelatine over the fire; keep it below a rolling boil, since prolonged boiling after the gelatine goes in can weaken the set.
- The final strainStraining out the onion, bay leaf and celery seed is the step that gives the aspic its clarity and its smooth bite. Use a fine sieve, and do not press the solids through or the aspic will be cloudy.
- Setting and unmoldingSmall molds set in about three hours in the refrigerator, a full mold four to six. Dip the mold briefly in warm water and run a thin knife round the edge to release.
- Yield and useOne pint makes roughly six small individual molds.
Tomato aspic belongs to the moment when commercial granulated gelatine turned a laborious kitchen job into a pantry staple. Before it, a clear jelly meant simmering calves' feet or isinglass for hours and clarifying the result; by the 1890s granulated gelatine was being sold dry in packaged boxes, and cookbooks filled with molded salads, jellied meats and aspics. The seasoning here -- bay, celery seed, onion, cayenne and paprika -- is close to the familiar American tomato-aspic formula that recurs in later cookbooks.