Russian Sandwiches

A two-spread finger sandwich from the era of the afternoon tea table. The whole thing rests on the salt balance between the olives and the caviare, and on cutting bread thin enough to hold together.

• Which olivesEarly twentieth-century "olives" in a Canadian household usually meant brine-cured green olives, commonly sold whole with the pit. Pitted green olives chopped fine are the direct equivalent; oil-cured black olives will overwhelm the caviare.
• Which caviareThe recipe does not specify a grade, and lumpfish, whitefish or salmon roe all work in place of sturgeon roe. Taste before spreading, as the salt varies enormously between products.
• Salt is the hingeBoth fillings are cured in brine, so the sandwich can end up inedibly salty. Rinse and drain the chopped olives, use only enough mayonnaise to bind, and spread the caviare thinly rather than generously.
• BreadUse a close-crumbed white sandwich loaf, day-old, sliced as thin as your knife allows and crusts trimmed. Fresh bread tears under a spread; a day of drying makes it cut cleanly. Butter the bread lightly first, which keeps moisture from the olives out of the crumb.
• "Press together in pairs"Each finished sandwich is one olive strip and one caviare strip pressed face to face, not two of the same. Weighting the assembled strips under a plate for a few minutes makes them hold their shape when picked up.
• MayonnaisePeriod mayonnaise was made at home with raw yolk. Commercial jarred mayonnaise, made with pasteurised egg, is the sensible substitute here since nothing in this recipe is cooked.
• Yield and timingYield depends entirely on how thin the loaf is sliced and how narrow the strips are cut. Assemble no more than an hour or two ahead and keep them covered with a damp cloth in the refrigerator; the caviare weeps if they sit longer.