Home › The Principles of Cookery › Savoury Toasts
Savoury Toasts
Savoury toasts may be served as relishes at breakfast or luncheon, or they may fill a corner of the dinner-table. They may be varied at pleasure, and, if agreeably flavoured, will constitute appetising trifles at small expense. To prepare them, cut some slices of crumb of bread half an inch thick, toast them, butter thickly, and spread upon them any highly-seasoned savoury mixture. Put them into the oven to make them hot, and serve. Any cold ragout or stewed vegetables heated in thick sauce, grated ham or tongue beaten up over the fire with egg and cream till thick, truffles or mushrooms stewed in butter, seasoned, and minced, or any similar preparation, may be used to spread upon the toasts. Anchovies pounded may be used in this way also. They are prepared as follows. Wash and bone the anchovies, mince finely, and pound them to paste in a mortar with a little piece of butter and a moderate quantity of cayenne. Work the whole to a smooth paste, spread it upon the buttered toast, and put into a Dutch oven till it is quite hot.
A method rather than a fixed recipe: toast, butter, and whatever well-seasoned mixture is to hand. A few of the terms and tools need translating.
- "Crumb of bread"The crumb is the soft interior, as opposed to the crust. Cut half-inch slices from a close-grained white loaf and trim the crusts off; the point is a firm, even base that will carry a wet topping without collapsing.
- Dutch ovenIn Victorian usage a Dutch oven is generally a hooded metal reflector that stands open-side to the fire, not the modern lidded casserole. A grill or broiler set a few inches from the element does the same job, or, as a modern substitute, a hot oven at 400F for a few minutes. The recipe itself gives no temperature.
- AnchoviesVictorian anchovies were commonly sold salt-packed in barrels, which explains the washing and boning. Oil-packed fillets need neither; drain them and pat dry. As a rough modern guide, six to eight fillets to an ounce of butter gives a spreadable paste; the recipe specifies only 'a little piece of butter'.
- Cayenne"A moderate quantity" against salty anchovy means a good pinch, not a spoonful. Taste the paste before it goes on the toast, since anchovy and cayenne both build as the toast heats.
- PoundingA mortar was the usual way to get a smooth paste. A small food processor is faster, but work the butter in cold and stop as soon as it emulsifies; overworked warm butter will weep on the toast.
- The ham and egg versionGrated ham or tongue "beaten up over the fire with egg and cream" is a savoury custard and will scramble if pushed. Keep it over low heat or a bain-marie, stir constantly, and pull it while it still slumps -- it firms as it cools and again in the oven.
- Timing in the ovenThe reheating is only to warm through, two or three minutes. Longer and the butter soaks out of the toast and the base goes limp.
- YieldReckon on one round per person as a savoury course, two or three as a light lunch. Cut into fingers or quarters if serving with drinks.
These belong to the savoury, the small, sharply seasoned course that in late-Victorian and Edwardian British dining came after the sweet and before the dessert fruit -- a survival of what is often said to be the older belief that a salty, peppery mouthful settled the palate for the port. Anchovy toast was the archetype, and the paste described here is essentially the same thing sold in jars as Gentleman's Relish, whose recipe is closely guarded but is generally understood to be pounded anchovy, butter and spice. The whole class of toasts is framed as thrift as much as fashion: they are a way of using yesterday's ragout, a scrap of tongue or a few mushrooms, and the phrase "appetising trifles at small expense" is doing real work in a household manual aimed at middle-class cooks keeping up an elaborate table on a finite budget.