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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 2 large tablespoonfuls of sauce and 1 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 slightly between two slices of the bread. Place the sandwiches on a baking-cloth; bake for five minutes in a brisk oven, sprinkling over the top of each sandwich a little grated Parmesan. Dish up on a napkin, and serve as a second-course savory dish.
The remains of fish or game may be used in the same way.
A late-Victorian hot canape: curried chicken and ham bound in a thick sauce, sandwiched between fried bread rounds and browned with Parmesan. The whole thing lives or dies on how thick the binding sauce is.
- "Sauce" is unspecifiedA reduced brown sauce or a thick bechamel would plausibly have been the sauce to hand in a kitchen of this period. Use about 2 tablespoons of a very stiff sauce -- thick enough to hold a mound on the spoon -- or the filling will soak the fried bread on contact.
- Curry pasteVictorian curry paste was generally a bottled commercial spiced paste, closer to a mild Madras than to Thai curry paste. One tablespoon of any modern Indian-style curry paste works; taste before spreading, as strengths vary widely.
- Brisk oven425-450F. Five minutes at that heat is enough to melt the cheese and heat the filling through; the bread is already cooked and will burn if left longer.
- Baking-clothA cloth or sheet of paper laid on the oven tray to stop sticking and scorching. Parchment on a baking sheet does the same job.
- Clarified butterUsed because whole butter's milk solids scorch at frying heat. Clarified butter or ghee lets the rounds brown evenly; drain them on paper so the sandwiches are not greasy.
- Stale bread, deliberatelyDay-old bread cuts into clean rounds and absorbs less fat. A 1.5-inch cutter and slices about a quarter-inch thick give the right proportion of bread to filling.
- Meat proportionTwo parts chicken to one part ham -- the ham is seasoning, not substance. Keep the dice small, around a quarter-inch, or the sandwiches will not close.
- Yield and serviceThe quantities are open-ended; a cup of diced meat makes roughly ten small sandwiches. Serve immediately, straight from the oven, as they go soft within minutes.