Part 17

SANDWICHES

The day has passed and forever when a sandwich meant two thick slices of bread, enclosing what the boys call a “hunk” of cold meat. Now the popular delicacy is made of bread cut to wafer-like thinness and shorn of all suggestion of crust. The “filling” may be simple or composite, as taste may dictate, and the ingenious housewife will devise many delicious combinations to be spread between the two layers of her sandwiches.

Ham sandwiches

Chop lean ham fine and beat into each cupful of the minced meat a tablespoonful of salad oil, a teaspoonful of vinegar, a saltspoonful of French mustard, six olives chopped fine, and a teaspoonful of minced parsley. Work all to a paste and spread on thin slices of white bread.

Chicken sandwiches

Mince the white meat of a roast chicken and mix it with half a can of French mushrooms, chopped fine, and a half cupful of chopped English walnuts. Season to taste with pepper and salt, and moisten with melted butter. Put the mixture between slices of whole wheat bread.

Brunette sandwiches

Slice Boston brown bread very thin, butter lightly, and spread with Neufchâtel or with cottage cheese. Have ready crisp lettuce-leaves, dip each in a bowl of French salad dressing, then lay on the already spread brown bread. Press another slice of buttered brown bread on this, and the sandwich is ready. These sandwiches must be kept in a moist atmosphere until it is time to serve them.

Lamb or mutton sandwiches

Mince cold roast lamb, or tender mutton fine, and season with salt, pepper and tomato catsup. Add a few minced olives and make all into a paste with mayonnaise dressing. Spread between thin slices of bread. Cut these sandwiches into diamond shapes.

Beef sandwiches

Chop rare cold roast beef very fine, taking care to use only the lean portions of the meat. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and a saltspoonful of horseradish. Mix and make into sandwiches with thinly-sliced graham bread. These may be eaten by persons of delicate digestion, and are both appetizing and nourishing.

Egg sandwiches

Mash the yolks of hard-boiled eggs to a powder and moisten with olive oil and a few drops of vinegar. Work to a paste, add salt, pepper and French mustard to taste, with a drop or two of Tabasco sauce. Now chop the whites of the eggs as fine as possible (or until they are like a coarse powder) and mix them with the yolk paste. If more seasoning is necessary, add it before spreading the mixture upon sliced graham bread.

Walnut sandwiches

Shell English walnuts. Blanch and chop, and to every tablespoonful of nuts allow a good half tablespoonful of cream cheese. Rub well together and spread on thin slices of crustless white or graham bread.

Peanut sandwiches

Shell and skin freshly-roasted peanuts and roll them to fine crumbs on a pastry-board. Add salt to taste, and mix the powdered nuts with enough fresh cream cheese to make a paste that can be easily spread on unbuttered bread. Keep in a cold, damp place until wanted.

Water cress sandwiches

Season water cress with salt, pepper, and a few drops of vinegar, and chop coarsely. Mix with creamy cottage cheese and spread on thinly-sliced white bread.

Cottage cheese sandwiches

Cottage cheese, spread upon a slice of buttered bread, and covered with a leaf of lettuce dipped in oil and vinegar, then with the second buttered slice, makes a nice relish.

Sardine sandwiches

Wipe the fish, skin, take out the backbone and rub to a smooth paste with a little butter and lemon juice. Add a dash of cayenne, or a few drops of Tabasco sauce, and spread between thin slices of brown bread.

Salmon sandwiches

(Contributed)

Remove the skin and bones from a can of salmon, shred with a silver fork and add the crumbled yolks of six hard-boiled eggs. Season to taste and add any good salad dressing. Spread on thin slices of brown bread.

Olive sandwiches

(Contributed)

Take equal parts of large and stuffed olives. Mince fine, mix with a little thick mayonnaise, and spread on thin slices of buttered bread.

Salad sandwiches

(Contributed)

Take finely-chopped chicken or veal, season with salt, pepper and a dash of onion juice. Add a little mayonnaise and spread the mixture on thin slices of bread lined with crisp lettuce leaves.

Nasturtium sandwiches

(Contributed)

Butter thin slices of white bread, place between them the petals of nasturtium flowers or the very young leaves. Place the flowers so that they will show along the edges of the bread and decorate the plate with the leaves and flowers.

Raisin sandwiches

(Contributed)

Make a paste of large seeded raisins and candied lemon peel chopped fine and moistened with lemon juice. Spread on lightly-buttered thin slices of bread. Serve with a cup of good tea.

Chocolate sandwiches

(Contributed)

Melt a small piece of butter in a saucepan; grate into it bitter chocolate and season with granulated sugar. When the chocolate is thoroughly melted take from the fire and cool. Moisten with a little thick cream and spread on thin slices of slightly buttered bread.

Hash sandwiches

(Contributed)

Cut pieces of bread into uniform sizes, dip them in beaten egg, to which a little milk and a pinch of salt has been added. Fry to a light brown in hot butter. Make a highly-seasoned hash of chopped meat and potatoes. Cook in stock until heated through. Arrange toast on platter, putting a spoonful of hash on each piece and covering with another piece of toast.

Date and nut sandwiches

(Contributed)

Remove the stones and the thick skin which surrounds them from the dates, then chop them fine. Add half as much finely-chopped English walnut or pecan meats; moisten with creamed butter, add a pinch of salt and spread between two thin slices of bread.

Fig and nut sandwiches

(Contributed)

For fig sandwiches use the recipe for dates and nuts, substituting figs for dates.

Ginger sandwiches

(Contributed)

Cut thin slices of plain gingerbread. Spread with soft cream cheese. Put between the slices a thin slice of preserved ginger.

Marmalade sandwiches

(Contributed)

Toast slices of bread, spread while hot with butter, fill with a thick marmalade and serve hot.

Cheese and nut sandwiches

(Contributed)

Take equal parts of grated cheese and English walnuts pounded to a meal and moisten with thick cream. Season to taste and spread between thin slices of buttered bread.

Lettuce sandwiches

(Contributed)

Lay between two thin slices of buttered bread a crisp lettuce leaf, on which has been spread a thin layer of salad dressing.

Sweetbread sandwiches

(Contributed)

Put cold boiled sweetbreads through a potato ricer, moisten with half as much whipped cream, season with salt, cayenne and lemon juice. Spread on thin slices of buttered bread and cut in fancy shapes.

Lobster sandwiches

(Contributed)

Season the finely-chopped meat of a lobster with a few drops of Tabasco sauce, lemon juice and oil and spread upon thinly-buttered bread.

Hot ham sandwiches

(Contributed)

Butter thin slices of bread. Broil some very thin slices of ham, put between the slices of bread and serve hot.

Tongue sandwiches

(Contributed)

Make a dressing one part mustard and five parts butter, add salt and pepper to taste and a little cayenne. Butter the bread with the dressing and lay between the slices thin slices of cold tongue.

Mint sandwiches

(Contributed)

Pulverize one tablespoonful of mint leaves; pour over them two tablespoonfuls of boiling water. Let it stand for about a half an hour. Soak half an ounce of gelatine in one tablespoonful of water. Dissolve it over hot water. Strain the mint into the gelatine and when cool add a pint of rich whipped cream and a pinch of salt. Let this stand in a mold until perfectly cold and firm. Slice in thin slices and put between dainty slices of bread.

Anchovy sandwiches

(Contributed)

Spread thin slices of bread with a very little butter. Cover this with a thin layer of anchovy paste. Mince finely some olives and use for filling.

Club sandwiches

(Contributed)

Toast slices of bread a nice brown, and while hot spread with butter and put between the slices a lettuce leaf, some cold baked chicken cut in thin slices, a few chopped olives and pickles, some slices of hot crisp bacon, a layer of salad dressing, another lettuce leaf and the other slice of toast.

These are very nice for Sunday evening supper.

Tomato sandwiches

Slice graham, or, better still, whole-wheat bread, thin, pare off the crust, butter on one side, spread with minced ripe tomatoes—drain off superfluous juice and sprinkle with salt, pepper and sugar. Serve at once. The tomatoes should be ice-cold and minced quickly. They are delicious and popular.

TEMPTING PREFIXES TO LUNCHEON

Grape fruit

This is among the most popular of appetizers to be served at a luncheon. Cut the fruit in half, crosswise, and with a sharp knife remove all the bitter white membrane that divides the lobes. Fill the space thus left with as much granulated sugar as the fruit will hold. Set on the ice until very cold.

Fruit baskets

Cut oranges in half so cleverly as to leave a wide strip from the upper half of the rind attached to the lower, like the handle of a basket, or the “bale” of a bucket. Should you break it at one side you can, after filling the cup or basket, put a neat stitch in and tie a bow of narrow ribbon over the join.

Empty the lower cup entirely to the white inner lining. Set on the ice while you prepare the filling. Cut the orange pulp into neat, clean bits; mix with crystallized cherries, atoms of _marrons glacés_ or of blanched nuts, add fine white sugar and a little liqueur, or if you prefer, sherry. Fill the baskets and leave half buried in cracked ice until you are ready to set them on the table.

Set each basket upon a chilled plate, laying an orange spoon beside it.

If you do not care to take the trouble of leaving the handle on, make bowls of the halved fruit. They are a delicious introduction to a company luncheon.

Oyster cocktails

Bury small oysters in the ice until needed. Have the tall, slender glasses in which they are to be served laid in the ice also that they may be thoroughly chilled. Make a sauce of two tablespoonfuls of tomato catsup, a dozen drops of Tabasco sauce, the juice of a lemon, a saltspoonful of grated horseradish and a dash, each, of salt and paprika. Add two tablespoonfuls of oyster liquor, mix thoroughly and set on the ice until very cold.

Put five oysters in the bottom of each chilled glass, pour the sauce upon them, and serve.

Raw oysters

Lay, when opened, on the deeper of the halved shells that the liquor may not escape. Have a bed of finely-cracked ice in each plate, fix five oysters in each bed, with a piece of lemon in the middle. Pass grated horseradish in vinegar with them, and small crackers, or buttered bars of graham bread.

Raw clams

Are served in the same way.

Caviar crisps

Remove the crusts from slices of white bread and cut into strips an inch wide and three inches long. Toast to a light brown and set aside to cool. Open a small can of caviar and rub into the contents a tablespoonful of salad oil and a teaspoonful of lemon juice. If the paste is not soft enough add more oil. Spread the crisp toast with this paste, garnish with sprigs of parsley, and serve cold.

Clam wafers

Chop a dozen soft clams very, very fine, and season with pepper and a few drops of lemon juice. Add to them the beaten yolk of one egg and enough finely-rolled cracker crumbs to make a soft paste. Spread seafoam wafers thickly with this paste, lay them in a baking pan and set in the oven for five or ten minutes, or until the wafers and paste are very hot and the batter is quite stiff. Serve at once.

Anchovy toast

Cut the crust from a loaf of graham bread and slice, then cut each slice in half and toast on both sides. Spread lightly with butter. Open a jar of anchovies and lay one of the tiny fish on each strip of graham toast, squeeze a few drops of lemon juice upon it, sprinkle with paprika and set in the oven until very hot.

Anchovy bars

Butter narrow saltine wafers, spread them with anchovy paste, and set them in the oven long enough to become very hot. Serve two on each plate.

Deviled crackers

Butter seafoam wafers, sprinkle lightly with paprika, then drop upon them a very little grated Parmesan cheese, and set in the oven until they brown delicately about the edges.

Hot-house grapes

Cut the larger bunches into smaller, all of uniform size. Lay on ice until just before luncheon when, tie a dainty bow of ribbon of a harmonizing color with the grapes, upon each bunch.

Jack Frost grapes

Divide a large bunch of selected grapes into smaller bunches of even proportion. With a camel’s-hair brush varnish each grape thoroughly with the white of an egg. Dust carefully with granulated sugar. Tie to each cluster a bow of narrow white ribbon.

SALADS

In a Familiar Talk, some pages back, I have alluded to the “Woman with a Way,” who will not use oil in salad dressing. A story which stuck to an eminent magazine publisher to the end of his busy career was of a new cook whose salads won the unqualified approval of her master, who was a gourmand in a gentlemanly way. She had been serving perfect mayonnaises and well-adjusted French dressings for a fortnight, when one of the children fell ill and the doctor prescribed a dose of castor oil. The mother recollected distinctly the purchase of a bottle not long before, but it could not be found. Bridget heard the inquiry going the rounds and came to the front.

“Castor ile—is it ye are wanting? And it is mesilf that was thinking this morning, as I had a right to spake to yez, mem, to order more. I put the lasht dhrop inter the castor yisterday. Salad every day uses a dale of ile.”

Bridget knows better now, and her mistress’s taste is so far cultivated by much use of salad oil that she insists upon having it “pure.”

An airy waitress, in the second day of her trial week in my household, complimented me patronizingly upon the judgment which led me to select “the best brand.”

“There’s no better oil on the market to my way of thinking than the Borducks!” holding a bottle up to let the light fall through the slow liquid amber of “Huile de Bordeaux.”

The oil of Bordeaux is good, when not doctored upon this side of the water. There are olive groves in other foreign lands that send thousands of gallons of pure oil to America to be mixed with cheaper oils, returned to the bottles bearing foreign labels, and palmed off upon the most credulous public upon the globe as the yield of the royal olive.

Pure salad oil, when it has any perceptible odor, should have a faint “nutty” perfume; it should taste like the ripe olives from which it was expressed; in color it should be palest, tenderest green; it should blend readily and harmoniously with condiments and with the body of the salad.

French dressing

Rub the inside of a bowl with a clove of garlic. Measure into a bowl six tablespoonfuls of oil, two of vinegar, two saltspoonfuls of salt, and one of pepper. Mix thoroughly before pouring over the salad.

Mayonnaise dressing

Into a chilled soup plate drop the yolk of an egg drained free of all the white, squeeze upon it a teaspoonful of lemon juice and stir in with a silver fork until well mixed. Now add gradually a few drops of salad oil, stirring steadily. As the dressing thickens, add the oil more freely until you have used half a pint. Season with a dash of paprika, a half teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of mustard, and a generous tablespoonful of vinegar.

In making your chicken salad allow a cupful of celery cut into bits to every two cups of the chicken dice, and make a cupful of mayonnaise for five cupfuls of the salad.

Cream dressing

Beat three eggs, yolks and whites together, until they are very light; add one teaspoonful of salt, a pinch of red pepper, half a saltspoonful of mustard mixed with a little water, and, lastly, three or four tablespoonfuls of rich, sweet cream.

Sour cream salad dressing

Have a cupful of rich sour cream very cold, then beat hard for five minutes, adding, as you do so, a tablespoonful of powdered sugar and a half teaspoonful of lemon juice. This dressing is delicious served with chilled cucumbers, sliced thin.

Boiled salad dressing

Into three well-beaten eggs stir a cupful of vinegar, a tablespoonful of sugar, two saltspoonfuls of salt, a dash of paprika, and a small teaspoonful of French mustard. Beat thoroughly, turn into a saucepan, stir steadily until the boil begins, and add a teaspoonful of butter. When this melts remove the dressing from the fire. Beat for two minutes and set aside to cool. When cold put in the ice-box, where it will keep a week or ten days.

Chicken salad

Cut cold, boiled chicken into small dice. With two cupfuls of this meat mix a cupful of celery cut into dice. Sprinkle all with salt and pepper. Into three tablespoonfuls of oil stir a tablespoonful of vinegar. Pour this over the chicken and celery and toss until well mixed. Line a chilled bowl with crisp lettuce leaves, fill with the chicken salad and pour mayonnaise dressing over all.

Turkey salad

Is made in like manner, rejecting the dark meat of the legs, unless it is very tender.

Lobster salad

Pick out the meat from a fresh, well-boiled lobster. Cut with a sharp knife into small dice, taking care not to tear the meat. Set on ice while you make a good mayonnaise, which, in turn, must go on the ice. Have ready one-third as much celery as you have lobster, cut into half-inch lengths. Mix together in a bowl, sprinkle with cayenne and salt and stir lightly into it a cupful of mayonnaise. Line a chilled bowl with crisp lettuce, arrange the salad within this; garnish with the lobsters’ claws and hard-boiled eggs cut into lengths lengthwise. Set on ice until it goes to table.

Crab salad

Is made in the same way, omitting the eggs from the garnish.

Oyster salad

Choose small oysters for this salad. If you can not get these, cut each oyster in half, but do not chop them. Drain the liquor from the oysters, and to every cupful of these add a cupful of crisp white celery cut into half-inch bits sprinkled lightly with salt. Mix and stir mayonnaise dressing through the mixture. Line a chilled bowl with lettuce leaves, fill with the oyster salad and pour a rich mayonnaise over all. Garnish with stoned olives.

Shrimp salad

For this dish you can use either the fresh or the canned shrimps. If the former, they must be shelled. If the latter, they must be taken from the can several hours before they are to be used and set on the ice. Line a salad bowl with crisp lettuce leaves, lay the shrimps upon these and cover with mayonnaise dressing. Serve at once.

Shrimp and tomato salad

Cut the tops from ripe tomatoes and remove the insides. Fill the tomato shells with cold boiled shrimps, with their backs up; set each tomato upon a leaf of lettuce and pour mayonnaise dressing over all. A pretty salad.

Crab and tomato salad

Carefully strip the skin from six large, firm tomatoes, and remove the centers. Fill the hollowed vegetables with the chopped and seasoned meat of six boiled crabs. Set the stuffed tomatoes in the ice for several hours. Lay on crisp lettuce leaves, and put a spoonful of mayonnaise dressing upon each tomato.

Shrimp salad and tomato aspic

Strain the liquor from a can of tomatoes through coarse muslin. Put over the fire, season with salt and paprika and the strained juice of a small onion. When it boils skim well and pour over half a box of Coxe’s gelatine, which has been soaked three hours in a cup of cold water. Set away to form into a jelly.

When ready to use it line a salad dish with lettuce, arrange the contents of a can of shrimps (strained) upon the leaves, and spoonfuls of tomato jelly upon the shrimps. Send around French salad dressing with it.

Salmon mayonnaise

Boil eight eggs hard, throw into cold water; peel and lay in ice. Make a cup of mayonnaise and rub into it five large clean-cut pieces of canned salmon. Slice the eggs, lay them on lettuce leaves and pour over them the salmon mayonnaise.

Sardine salad

Drain the oil from a box of sardines and squeeze three drops of lemon juice on each fish. Lay crisp lettuce leaves in iced water for half an hour, then shake free of moisture and lay on a chilled platter. On each leaf lay a sardine, and upon this pour a spoonful of thick mayonnaise dressing. Garnish the edge of the platter with cold boiled beets cut into star shapes. Serve with crackers and cream cheese.

Egg salad with sardine mayonnaise

Boil eight eggs hard, throw into cold water; peel and lay in the ice. Make a cup of mayonnaise and rub into it four sardines that have been skinned and mashed to a paste. Halve the eggs, lay them on crisp lettuce leaves and pour a spoonful of the sardine mayonnaise over all.

Egg salad with boiled dressing

Beat smooth the yolks of three eggs with one teaspoonful of sugar, a half teaspoonful of mustard, one-half teaspoonful of salt, dash of celery salt, one cup of vinegar and one cup of milk, added alternately to prevent curdling, and two tablespoonfuls of oil; put into double boiler and cook to the consistency of thin custard, stirring all the time. Let it get perfectly cold. Line a chilled dish with lettuce leaves, heap hard-boiled eggs, cut into quarters, upon these and pour over them the dressing.

Simple lettuce salad

Unless you have an exceptionally deft and cool-fingered cook or waiter, make the salad on the table yourself. Have, first, a finger-bowl passed quietly to you, into which dip your fingers, drying them on your napkin. While you do this the waitress or butler should set before you the oil, vinegar, pepper and salt, with salad spoon and fork and a small bowl, in the bottom of which is a tablespoonful of finely-minced green chives. If you have not these, the inside of the bowl should have been rubbed well with garlic. Mix in the bowl of the spoon a teaspoonful of salt with half as much pepper; fill the large spoon with vinegar, mixing salt and pepper well in this; turn into the mixing bowl; then fill the spoon three times with oil. Stir and toss until the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. Two larger bowls should be ready at hand, one empty, the other heaped with crisp, cold lettuce leaves. Pick these apart lightly with the tips of your fingers and put into the empty bowl. When all are in pour the dressing over the lettuce, tossing lightly and quickly with salad fork and spoon. Pass at once with heated crackers and fancy cheese of some kind.

Lettuce and tomato salad

After tearing the lettuce apart, lay, as on a bed, tomatoes pared and sliced, or cut into eighths. Pour the dressing over them.

Salad should never be touched with one’s own knife, but divided, if need be, with the fork. It should not be necessary to remind people who know anything of the by-laws of dining and lunching as received by polite society, that it is awkward and unconventional to hash tender lettuce, celery or cress with knife and fork, clinking against the plate in a castanet accompaniment to table talk. Yet it is done in our sight and hearing almost every day.

Water cress salad

Tear apart gingerly, pile in a bowl, and pour a French dressing over it. Some like to dip it into salt, as celery is eaten, without other dressing.

Potato salad (No. 1)