This section is from the book "Mrs. Rorer's Vegetable Cookery And Meat Substitutes", by Sarah Tyson Rorer. Also available from Amazon: Mrs. Rorer's Vegetable Cookery And Meat Substitutes.......
(Lycopersicum esculentum, Miller) Tomatoes, when fully ripe, contain about ninety to ninety-two per cent, of water. In the remaining portion there is a little pectose and mineral matter, not enough, however, to give them food value. Whether or not they are wholesome I do not know, but of one thing I am quite certain, they are detrimental to persons who have oxaluria or uric acid diathesis.
Tomatoes are attractive in appearance, palatable and capable of great variation in cooking, hence their popularity. There is no doubt that many succulent vegetables, especially the tomato, are more easily digested raw. Tomatoes, if served with just a little olive oil, cocoanut cream or mayonnaise dressing, are far more attractive than when combined with vinegar, sugar or cream. If served persistently with salt, pepper and vinegar, they will produce ulcerations in the mouth and intestinal disturbances.
Select small solid peach tomatoes; put them into a colander or wire basket; plunge into boiling water and quickly remove the skins. Place the tomatoes at once on ice to cool. At serving time, fill small bowls nearly full of cracked ice and sink the tomato down into the ice, blossom end up. Pass with them a bowl of powdered sugar.
Select uniform size small peach tomatoes. Put them into a wire basket; plunge into boiling water; lift out quickly; remove the skins. Stand them on the ice until cold. Arrange on small dishes in little nests of crisp lettuce leaves and cover the tomato thickly with mayonnaise; put a little cracked ice around the lettuce and send to the table.
Cut large solid tomatoes into halves; stand in a baking-pan, skin side down. Dust lightly with salt and pepper; put a bit of butter in the centre of each tomato and cook in a moderate oven half an hour, or until the tomatoes are soft but whole. Have ready toasted slices of bread; put half a tomato on each. Mix a tablespoonful of flour with four tablespoonfuls of cream; add sufficient milk to make a half pint. Pour this into the pan in which the tomatoes were cooked; stir constantly until it boils; add a half teaspoonful of salt and a saltspoonful of pepper. Strain this around the tomatoes and send at once to the table. This makes a nice luncheon or supper dish.
Cut solid tomatoes into slices a half inch thick; dust with salt and pepper, and roll them in bread-crumbs. Put them on a broiler; broil quickly over a clear fire, first on one side and then on the other. Transfer them carefully to a hot dish and send to the table. These are nice for breakfast.
Put small peeled tomatoes into custard cups. Stand the cups in a baking-pan and then in a quick oven and bake for thirty minutes. Take from the oven; with two forks open the tomatoes carefully in the centre, as you would a baked potato; put in a half saltspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper and a half teaspoonful of butter. Send at once to the table.