Ham Canapes
1/2 cup minced ham 2 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon chopped parsley Mix the ham, butter and seasonings to a smooth paste; cut the bread into circles, fry brown and spread with the ham mixture.
A potted-ham spread on fried bread rounds, written in the compressed style of early 1900s promotional cookbooks. The ingredient list is incomplete relative to the method, so a little judgment is required.
- The missing seasoningsThe method calls for "seasonings" that the list never names. Salt, pepper, and a little dry mustard or cayenne are the period-appropriate choices; a few drops of Worcestershire or lemon juice also fit. Taste as you go, since minced ham is already salty.
- Butter must be soft, not meltedThe paste depends on creamed butter binding the meat. Bring the butter to room temperature and work it with the back of a spoon or in a food processor; melted butter will separate and leave the topping greasy once it cools.
- Mince finer than you think"Minced" here means near-paste. Ham chopped coarsely will not spread on a small round without tearing the bread. A short pulse in a food processor gets you there faster than a knife.
- Frying the breadUse firm white sandwich bread a scant 1/2 inch thick, cut into 1 1/2-inch rounds with a cutter or small glass, and fry in butter or a butter-oil mix over medium heat until golden on both sides. Drain on paper and cool completely before spreading, or the butter in the paste will melt.
- Oven as an alternativeBrushing the rounds with melted butter and baking at 375F for 8 to 10 minutes gives a drier, sturdier base that holds longer on a tray.
- YieldHalf a cup of ham with 2 tablespoons butter makes roughly 18 to 20 small canapes, enough for six to eight people as one item among several.
- Make-aheadThe ham butter keeps three or four days refrigerated and improves for having sat. Spread it onto the fried rounds no more than an hour before serving so the bread stays crisp.
Canape is French for a sofa or couch, a name generally traced to the idea of a small piece of bread that a savory topping sits upon; fried or toasted bread rounds were a standard base. This recipe is really a potted ham in miniature: pounding cooked meat smooth with butter and seasoning was the old English method of preserving leftovers under a butter seal, and by 1900 the same paste had been demoted from larder staple to party food. It assumes a cook who already knew what "seasonings" meant and would not need to be told the quantity.