Chapter 5

114. TOMATO SANDWICHES.--Slice bread about 1/4 inch thick and spread the slices with butter. Peel firm red tomatoes and cut them into thin slices. Cover one slice of bread with a slice of tomato, spread this with thick salad dressing, and, if desired, place a lettuce leaf over this. Cover with a second slice of bread, trim the edges, and serve.

115. CUCUMBER SANDWICHES.--Peel and slice into thin slices a medium-sized cucumber that does not contain large seeds. Place the slices in very cold water to make them crisp. Slice bread about 1/4 inch thick and spread the slices with butter. Place thin slices of cucumber on one piece, spread with thick salad dressing, and put a lettuce leaf on top of this, if desired. Cover with the second slice of bread, trim the edges, and serve.

116. ROLLED CELERY SANDWICHES.--Cut 1/4-inch slices from a comparatively fresh loaf of bread. Trim the crusts and spread with butter. Cut the stems of tender celery into pieces that are as long as the bread is wide. Place the celery on one edge of the bread, fill the center of the stem with salad dressing, and roll the celery into the bread like a jelly roll. Place a moist napkin in the bottom of a bread pan and stack the rolls in rows, with the loose edge down, so that they will stay rolled. When all have been placed in the pan, fold the edges of the napkin across the top and allow them to stand for a few hours before serving. This cannot be done with bread that is dry. If the sandwiches are to be served at once, the edges will have to be tied or fastened with toothpicks.

In case it is desired not to use celery in rolled sandwiches, a filling of cream cheese or jam may be added after the bread is buttered and each piece then rolled in the manner explained. An idea of how attractive rolled sandwiches are may be obtained from Fig. 26. When served in a decorated sandwich basket, as shown, these sandwiches give a very dainty touch to a luncheon or a tea.

117. ONION-AND-PEPPER SANDWICHES.--Cut bread into slices about 1/4 inch thick and spread these with butter. Slice Spanish or Bermuda onions into thin slices and cut a green pepper into thin rings. Place a slice of the onion on one piece of buttered bread and on top of this put two or three rings of green pepper. If desired, spread with salad dressing, or merely season the onion with salt and pepper. Place the second slice of bread on top, trim the edges, and serve.

FRUIT SANDWICHES

118. Sandwiches that have fruit for their filling appeal to many persons. For the most part, dried fruits are used for this purpose and they usually require cooking. Another type of fruit sandwich is that which has jelly or marmalade for its filling. As fruit sandwiches are sweet and not very hearty, they are much served for afternoon tea or to provide variety when another kind of sandwich is being served.

119. DATE SANDWICHES.--To any one who desires a sweet sandwich, the date sandwich in the accompanying recipe will be found to be very agreeable. Not all sandwich fillings seem to be satisfactory with other bread than white, but the filling here given can be utilized with white, graham, or whole-wheat bread.

DATE FILLING

3/4 c. dates 1/4 c. nut meats 1/2 lemon

Wash the dates and remove the seeds. Steam them over hot water or in a double boiler until they are soft, and then mash them thoroughly. Squeeze the juice from the lemon, grate the yellow part of the rind and mix with the juice, and add both to the steamed dates. Then add the nut meats chopped very fine.

To make the sandwiches, cut thin slices of bread and spread one slice with butter and the corresponding slice with the date filling. Place the two together, trim the crusts if desired, and serve.

120. FRUIT SANDWICHES.--The three fruits mentioned in the accompanying recipe may be used in equal proportions as here given, only two of them may be utilized, or the proportions may be changed to suit the supply on hand. This sandwich may be made with white bread, brown bread, graham bread, or whole-wheat bread.

FRUIT FILLING

1/2 c. dates 1/2 c. raisins 1/2 c. figs 1 orange

Wash the dates, figs, and raisins, and remove the stones from the dates. Steam all together until they are soft, mash thoroughly, and add the juice and the grated rind of the orange.

Cut thin slices of bread, spread one slice with butter, and spread the opposite slice with this filling. Place the two together, trim the edges if desired, and serve.

121. APRICOT SANDWICHES.--To people who are fond of apricots, sandwiches containing apricot filling are very delicious. If jelly or marmalade is plentiful, it may be used in place of the apricots to make the sandwich.

APRICOT FILLING

1/2 c. dried apricots 1/4 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 c. sugar 1 Tb. lemon juice

Wash and soak the apricots, and when they are thoroughly softened cook them until tender in just enough water to keep them from burning. Put them through a sieve or a colander and add the sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice to the pulp. Place over the fire and cook until the mixture becomes thick, stirring constantly to keep it from scorching. Set aside to cool.

Cut bread into thin slices, butter one slice, and spread the other of each pair of slices with the apricot filling. Put each two slices together and trim the edges if desired. Serve.

122. JELLY AND MARMALADE SANDWICHES.--Jelly and marmalade always make acceptable filling for sandwiches, and as these foods are usually in supply sandwiches containing them require less trouble to prepare than do most sandwiches. Then, too, if two kinds of sandwiches are to be served for a tea or a little lunch, sandwiches of this kind are very nice for the second one. They are made in the usual way, but if the jelly or marmalade is very thin, it is an excellent plan to spread each slice of bread used for the sandwich thinly with butter so that the filling will not soak into the bread.

Slices of Boston brown bread steamed in small round cans, such as baking-powder cans, and a filling of jelly or marmalade make dainty little sandwiches for afternoon tea.

HIGH-PROTEIN SANDWICHES

123. When sandwiches of a substantial nature are desired, those in which high-protein foods are used as fillings will be found very acceptable. Here considerable variety may be had, for there are a number of these foods that make excellent fillings. Some sandwiches of this kind are suitable for serving with salads while others, such as those containing meat or chicken, are very satisfactory for picnics or light lunches.

124. JELLY-AND-CREAM-CHEESE SANDWICHES.--A sandwich that is very dainty as well as unusually good is made by using both jelly and cream cheese for filling. Sandwiches of this kind are shown on the plate to the right in Fig. 25. If a red jelly, such as currant jelly, is used, the appearance of the sandwich will be better than if a light jelly or a very dark jelly is used.

Cut the bread very thin and match three slices for the sandwich instead of two. Spread the first piece thinly with butter and spread the opposite side of the second piece with jelly. Place this on the buttered bread and spread the other side with cream cheese. Spread another piece with butter and place this on top of the cream cheese. Trim the edges if desired, and cut into narrow strips. Serve.

125. RYE-BREAD-AND-CHEESE SANDWICHES.--Rye bread and cheese make a favored combination with many persons. Swiss cheese is an excellent kind to serve with rye bread, but the American-made Cheddar cheese does very nicely if the other cannot be procured.

Cut rye bread into slices about 1/4 inch thick. Spread them very thinly with butter, and between each two slices place a thin slice of the cheese. Serve mustard with sandwiches of this kind for any one who may desire it.

126. CHEESE SANDWICHES.--Cheese combined with pimiento, sweet pickles, olives, and nuts makes a filling that has an excellent flavor. Sandwiches containing this filling will be found to be very good for picnics or lunches. Their food value, which, of course, is high, depends somewhat on the amount of filling used.

CHEESE FILLING

1/4 lb. cheese 1/4 c. English walnut meats 1 pimiento 1/2 doz. olives, cut from stones 2 sweet pickles

Put the cheese through a grinder unless it is soft enough to mash. Chop the pimiento, pickles, nuts, and olives quite fine and add the cheese. Work together with a spoon. Cut bread into thin slices, spread one piece with butter, the other one with the cheese filling, place the two together, trim if desired, and serve.

127. CHEESE-AND-NUT SANDWICHES.--Cream cheese is used in the accompanying recipe, but other cheese may be substituted for it if desired. Sandwiches containing this filling are high in both protein and fat, and may be served very nicely with a vegetable salad.

CHEESE-AND-NUT FILLING

1 pkg. cream cheese 1/3 c. English walnut meats 4 Tb. salad dressing

Mash the cheese with a spoon and add the salad dressing. Just before making the sandwiches, add the nut meats, which have been chopped very fine. If this mixture is put together and allowed to stand for any length of time before serving, the filling will grow dark.

Cut bread thinly, butter one slice, place filling on the opposite slice, put together, trim if desired, and serve.

128. PEANUT-BUTTER SANDWICHES.--Peanut butter alone makes a rather dry sandwich, as it has a peculiar consistency that makes it difficult to swallow without moistening. This condition can be overcome by adding a little salad dressing to the peanut butter.

Place a few tablespoonfuls of peanut butter in a bowl and pour a sufficient amount of salad dressing into it to moisten it enough to spread. Season with salt. Cut slices of bread thin, spread one piece with butter, the opposite piece with peanut butter, place together, trim if desired, and serve.

129. HARD-COOKED-EGG SANDWICHES.--An excellent sandwich filling can be made by seasoning hard-cooked eggs and combining them with vinegar. To make this filling, cook the desired number of eggs until they are hard. Remove them from the shells and put them through a sieve. Season well with salt and pepper and then add sufficient vinegar to make them of a good consistency to spread. Cut bread thin, spread one piece with butter, and the opposite piece with the egg mixture. Put them together, trim the edges if desired, and serve.

130. MEAT SANDWICHES.--Cold cooked meat may be used in sandwiches in the usual way by putting thin slices between buttered bread, or it may be put through the grinder or chopped finely and then mixed with salad dressing until thin enough to spread. With the meat may also be chopped pickles, olives, a small amount of onion, green pepper, pimiento, or anything desired for flavoring. Left-over roast meat that will not slice very well and trimmings from ham may be utilized in this way.

When a filling of chopped meat is to be used, slice bread thin, spread one slice with butter and the opposite slice with the meat filling. Put together, trim if desired, and serve.

131. CHICKEN SANDWICHES.--Cold chicken sliced thinly, put between pieces of crisp toast, and spread with salad dressing, makes a sandwich that is most delicious and offers a pleasant change from the usual plain-bread sandwich. Cut bread 1/4 inch thick and toast it a delicate brown on both sides. Spread thinly with butter when it comes from the toaster. Between each two pieces place thin slices of chicken. Spread the chicken with a small amount of salad dressing, place a lettuce leaf on top of this, and cover with a second piece of toast. Serve.

132. CHICKEN-SALAD SANDWICHES.--When there is on hand only a small amount of chicken that is perhaps not in the right condition for slicing, it is a good plan to make a salad of it and use this for sandwich filling. If necessary, a little veal or pork may be used with the chicken.

CHICKEN-SALAD FILLING

1 c. cold meat 1 hard-cooked egg 1/2 c. chopped celery Salad dressing 1 small onion

Chop all the ingredients very fine, mix together, and season well with salt and pepper. Add sufficient salad dressing to moisten well. Cut bread thin and spread a slice with butter and another slice with the sandwich mixture. Place a lettuce leaf over this, put the two pieces of bread together, trim and serve.

HOT SANDWICHES

133. All the sandwiches thus far discussed are served cold, but various hot sandwiches can also be made. As these generally have meat or a high-protein food for their filling, they may be used as the main dish in the meal in which they are served. Sandwiches of this kind are excellent for a light luncheon or for supper.

134. HOT-MEAT SANDWICHES.--If both meat and gravy remain from a roast, a very excellent luncheon dish may be made by slicing the meat thin, placing it on slices of bread, and pouring the gravy, which has been heated, over both the bread and meat. There may be a second layer of bread on top of the meat if desired.

135. HOT FRIED-EGG SANDWICHES.--A very good way in which to serve eggs is to sauté them and then make sandwiches of them. Spread slices of bread thinly with butter. Break the desired number of eggs into a frying pan with melted butter or other fat, season with salt and pepper, and fry on one side. Then turn and fry on the other side until the yolk becomes quite hard. Place an egg on one slice of the buttered bread, place a second slice over this, and serve while hot.

136. HAM-AND-EGG SANDWICHES.--The combination of ham and eggs is always a good one, but it becomes especially palatable when used in a sandwich, as here explained. Slice boiled ham into thin slices and sauté in hot fat for a few minutes. Then break into a bowl as many eggs as will be required, beat slightly, and pour over the slices of ham in the frying pan. When the mass has cooked well on one side, turn and cook on the opposite side. There should not be sufficient egg to make this very thick. Season well with salt and pepper and when the mixture is thoroughly cooked, cut it into pieces of a size to fit the bread used for the sandwiches. Cut the bread, butter it slightly, place a piece of the ham-and-egg mixture between each two slices of bread, and serve hot. If desired, toast may be used in place of bread and a more delicious sandwich will be the result.

137. CLUB SANDWICHES.--Nothing in the way of sandwiches is more delicious than club sandwiches if they are properly made. They involve a little more work than most sandwiches, but no difficulty will be experienced in making them if the directions here given are carefully followed. The ingredients necessary for sandwiches of this kind are bread, lettuce, salad dressing, bacon, and chicken. The quantity of each required will depend on whether a two- or a three-layer sandwich is made and the number of sandwiches to be served.

Cut the bread into slices about 1/4 inch thick and cut each slice diagonally across to form two triangular pieces. Trim the crust and toast the bread on a toaster until it is a light brown on both sides and then butter slightly if desired. Slice chicken into thin slices. Broil strips of bacon until they are crisp. On a slice of toast, place a lettuce leaf and then a layer of sliced chicken, and spread over this a small quantity of salad dressing, preferably mayonnaise. On top of this, place strips of the broiled bacon and then a second slice of toast. If desired, repeat the first layer and place on top of it a third slice of toast. This should be served while the bacon is still hot. Thin slices of tomato may also be used in each layer of this sandwich if desired.

138. CHEESE DREAMS.--With persons who are fond of melted cheese, a favorite kind of sandwich is that known as cheese dreams. These make a good dish for a Sunday evening supper or for an evening lunch.

Cut bread about 1/4 inch thick. Cut slices of cheese about half as thick, and between each two slices of bread place a slice of the cheese. Place these on a broiler, broil first on one side and then on the other until the cheese is thoroughly melted, or sauté the sandwiches in a frying pan with melted butter, first on one side and then on the other. Serve while hot.

OPEN SANDWICHES

139. If sandwiches that are entirely different and at the same time attractive are desired for an afternoon tea or to serve with a salad, open sandwiches will undoubtedly find favor. Fig. 27 illustrates several varieties of such sandwiches and shows how artistically they can be made. These are merely submitted as suggestions, but with a little ingenuity, the housewife may work out in designs any ideas she may have. To make such sandwiches attractive, fancy cutters of various shapes will be found helpful. As here shown, round, diamond-shaped, crescent-shaped, triangular, and star-shaped cutters have been used.

140. The most suitable materials for open sandwiches include cream cheese, jam, stuffed olives, chopped parsley, hard-cooked eggs with the yolks or whites forced through a ricer, pimiento cut into attractive shapes, and any other material that will add either flavor or color. Either white or brown bread may be used. After cutting the bread in the preferred shapes, spread first with butter, if desired, and then with cream cheese, jam, or jelly. With this done, decorate the sandwiches in any desired way. Slices of stuffed olives are placed in the center of several here shown and strips or small pieces of pimiento are used for much of the decoration. On those that have jam or jelly for their foundation, cream cheese put through a pastry tube forms the decoration.

141. If an accompaniment for a salad is desired and time will not permit the making of open sandwiches, small crisp crackers, decorated with cream cheese, as shown in Fig. 28, will be a very good substitute. These are excellent with a vegetable or a fruit salad; also, when served after the dessert they make a good final course to a meal.

To prepare them, add cream to cream cheese until it is thin enough to be forced through a pastry bag. Using the rosette tube in the bag, make a single rosette in the center of each wafer. Dust with paprika and serve.

142. CANAPES.--Although differing somewhat from the open sandwiches that have been described, canapes are usually placed under this head. _Canapes_ are small pieces of bread toasted or sautéd in butter and then spread with some highly seasoned material, such as caviar, anchovy paste, well-seasoned smoked or canned salmon, or a vegetable mixture. They are served either hot or cold as an appetizer or as a first course for lunch or dinner.

To make canapes, toast or sauté slices of bread and cut them into any shape desired. Cover each piece with a thin layer of the material to be used and then decorate in any of the ways shown in Fig. 27 or in any other manner. Sometimes a thin layer of tomato is used, but often just a border of some material of contrasting color, such as the yolk of egg forced through a ricer, finely chopped parsley, a thin strip of pimiento, etc., is placed around the edge.

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SALADS AND SANDWICHES

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

(1) Discuss the importance of salads and their value in the diet.

(2) In planning meals to include salads, what rules should be observed in order to make the meals balance properly?

(3) Of what value to the salads are the accompaniments often served with them?

(4) What ingredients used in salads make them satisfactory as high-protein salads?

(5) How is fat usually supplied in making salads?

(6) What salad ingredients are of the most value for supplying mineral salts?

(7) To what extent are vegetables and fruits combined in making salads?

(8) Of what value are salads in the use of leftovers?

(9) (a) What is meant by garnishing salads? (b) How may coarse lettuce be used to advantage for garnish?

(10) (a) Describe the best quality of olive oil. (b) What other kinds of oils may be used as salad oils?

(11) (a) What ingredients beside oil are included in the making of the various kinds of salad dressings? (b) What is the value of each?

(12) Describe the ideal condition of ingredients used for salads.

(13) How may salad ingredients be freshened if they have become wilted?

(14) Describe the cleaning of lettuce for salad.

(15) (a) When may a salad serve as a dessert? (b) In making a salad that contains nuts, when should they be added?

(16) (a) Tell how and why marinating is done. (b) What kind of salads should always be marinated?

(17) At what time during a meal is the salad served when it is used as a separate course?

(18) (a) Give several points that must be observed if mayonnaise dressing is to be successfully made. (b) What utensil is best for the cooking of boiled salad dressing? Tell why.

(19) (a) Describe the bread that may be used to best advantage for sandwiches. (b) Into what shapes may sandwiches be cut so that there will be no waste of bread?

(20) (a) How should butter be prepared for spreading sandwiches? (b) How may sandwiches be kept moist when they are prepared some time before they are to be served?

ADDITIONAL WORK

Give a recipe for an original salad in which at least one ingredient is a left-over.

COLD AND FROZEN DESSERTS

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THE DESSERT IN THE MEAL

GENERAL DISCUSSION

1. A dessert always consists of sweet food of some kind, and in the usual meal it is served as the last course. Sometimes, especially in more elaborate meals, another course, such as cheese and coffee, may follow, but ordinarily the dessert is the last food that is served.

The eating of something sweet after the heavy course of a meal has undoubtedly become a habit with almost every person. At any rate, a dinner in which a dessert is not included generally leaves one unsatisfied and gives the feeling that the meal has not been properly completed. Some housewives, however, make the mistake of serving a heavy dessert after a large meal, with the result that those served leave the table feeling they have had too much to eat. If this occurs, the same combination of food should be avoided another time and a simple dessert used to follow a dinner that is already sufficiently heavy.

2. There is nothing fixed about the dessert course of a meal. It may be very simple or it may be as complicated and elaborate as desired. To make an elaborate dessert usually requires a good deal of time, and unless time and care can be devoted to such a dessert it should not be attempted. However, whether a dessert is simple or elaborate, it should always be made sufficiently attractive to appeal to an appetite that is already almost satisfied. Besides providing a chance to end a meal in an attractive and appetizing way, it offers a splendid opportunity to carry out a color scheme that may be adopted for a meal. Of course, this is seldom done, except for a party or a company meal, for a color scheme has no particular value other than to appeal to the esthetic sense.

3. The cost of desserts is also a matter that may be varied. For instance, it may be low, as in plain rice pudding, which contains merely rice and milk, or it may be high, as in such concoctions as mousse or parfait, which may contain cream, eggs, gelatine, and fruit. It is possible then, with correct planning, to make the price of the dessert equalize the cost of the meal. For example, if the previous courses have contained expensive foods, the dessert should be an economical one, whereas an expensive one is permissible either when an elaborate meal is desired or when the cheapness of the food served before the dessert warrants greater expense in the final dish.