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Adelaide Sandwiches
Cut up cold chicken and ham in small squares, in the proportion of two-thirds of chicken to one-third of ham. Next place two large table-spoonfuls of Worcester sauce and one of curry paste in a stewpan, and when they boil add the chicken and ham, mixing all well together. Prepare thin slices of stale bread, cut in small circles, by frying them in clarified butter. Spread the prepared chicken and ham lightly between two slices of the bread. Upon the top of each sandwich place a ball, about the size of a walnut, composed of grated Parmesan cheese and butter in equal parts, kneaded into a paste. Place the sandwiches on a baking-cloth, bake for five minutes in a brisk oven, dish up on a napkin, and serve as a second-course savoury dish.
A hot canapé built from leftover roast chicken and ham, meant to close a dinner rather than open it. The whole thing hangs on keeping the filling dry enough that the fried bread stays crisp.
- The hinge: reduce the sauceTwo tablespoons of Worcestershire and one of curry paste will loosen considerably once the meat warms through and gives up its juices. Let the mixture bubble until it is barely moist and clinging, or the fried bread turns to paste in the oven.
- A brisk ovenRoughly 400-450F; period terms are approximate. Five minutes is enough to melt the cheese ball and heat the filling; the components are already cooked, so longer only dries out the meat.
- Curry pasteVictorian curry paste was a thick, oily commercial preserve of spices, closer to a concentrate than to a modern Thai or Indian cooking paste. A mild jarred madras-style paste is the nearest substitute; start with half the quantity and taste, since heat levels vary widely.
- Worcester sauceWorcestershire sauce, then as now. Two tablespoons in a small quantity of meat is assertive and salty, which is the point of a savoury course, but check for salt before adding any.
- Baking-clothApparently a sheet of clean cloth or paper laid on the tin or oven shelf to stop scorching and sticking. Parchment on a baking sheet serves the same purpose.
- Clarified butter, and stale breadClarified butter fries at a higher temperature without the milk solids burning, which matters for bread this thin. Day-old bread absorbs less fat and holds its shape when cut into rounds; fresh bread tears and goes greasy.
- The Parmesan ballEqual parts grated Parmesan and softened butter kneaded together. A walnut-sized ball is roughly two teaspoons; it will slump and glaze the top rather than hold its shape.
- Yield and servingThe recipe gives no quantities, so yield depends entirely on your cutter; a 1.5-inch round will produce small two- or three-bite sandwiches. Serve hot and immediately, one or two per person, as the recipe's 'second-course savoury dish'.
Savouries of this kind, a small hot salty mouthful eaten at the very end of a formal English dinner, were a fixture of late Victorian and Edwardian table service, and cookery dictionaries like Cassell's catalogue them by the dozen. The recipe is a piece of household economy dressed up for company, since it exists to use the cold remains of a roast fowl and a boiled ham, which any kitchen cooking on this scale would have had to hand. Curry paste and Worcestershire sauce were both available ready-made by this period, and their appearance here shows how quickly bottled proprietary flavourings were absorbed into the repertoire of the polite dinner table.