Tomato (Tomate).—The use of these has only
become common of late years, tomato sauce alone
having established itself here up to the latter half of
the past century. Tomatoes may be baked, boiled,
devilled, grilled, etc., or served en purée, or as an
entremets dressed in a variety of ways. The great
secret about tomatoes is not to leave them to cook
over long, as this destroys the delicacy of their flavour
entirely. If served raw they are excellent as a salad,
either alone or in conjunction with other vegetables,
whilst they play an important part in hors d’œuvres
and savouries. For eating raw, and indeed for
most entremets, they should be peeled, and this is
easily done if they are dipped for a moment (only)
into scalding or boiling water, when the peel comes
off quite easily. But on no account leave them in the
water, for soaking ruins them.
baked.—Choose medium and even-sized
tomatoes, remove the stalks, and halve them; well
butter a baking dish (using butter or well-clarified
dripping, as you please), and put some more butter
on and round the halves (using about 2oz. altogether
for eight averaged-sized tomatoes), and bake for
twenty minutes, more or less, according to size.
If the tomatoes run large, peel them, slice them rather
thickly, lay them in a single layer, touching but not
overlapping, in a well-buttered baking dish, brush
them over with a little liquified butter or dripping,
dust with freshly-ground black pepper, a little salt,
and some finely-minced parsley, and bake for seven
to eight minutes, serving them very hot, with a
tiny dust of sugar (unless very ripe) and a few drops