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Sandwiches

The old-fashioned sandwich-two thick wedges of bread, erratically buttered, hard of crust, exuding mustard, and with frills of ham or corned beef about the edge-has been relegated to the past by the arrival of the meat chopper. The sandwiches of the past were of a half-dozen varieties; the filling of a modern sandwich is limited only by what you have on hand. Fish, flesh, fowl, vegetables, eggs, nuts, olives, fruit, cheese, and pickles may be utilized alone, or combined, and the result, when prepared by a skillful cook, is a dainty and delicious morsel.

If many sandwiches are required, as for a reception or picnic, bake the bread specially for them; there is less waste and the work is much easier.

Keep on hand plenty of baking-powder cans, pound and half-pound sizes, also a few oblong tins which have held one pound of cocoa. Nothing can excel these as molds for baking bread for picnic sandwiches; it is tender, almost crustless, it needs no trimming to make two slices accord in size, and it bakes or steams much more quickly than in larger tins.

Make the bread twenty-four hours before it is required and try to have it fine grained. Fill the cans half full of dough and set to raise. When almost at the top of the tins, put to bake with the lids off. Fill three quarters full of brown-bread mixture; it does not raise so much as bread which has yeast in it. Slip the small loaves out of the tins as soon as taken from the oven or steamer and set on a wire stand to cool; then wrap in towels and put away in the bread box until required.

The next consideration is butter.

Put a pound of butter (if you have many sandwiches to make) in a mixing bowl and with a slitted wooden spoon beat it to a fine, light cream, exactly as for cake making. The butter is much easier to spread, it is more economical, then it is ready to divide into portions and blend with anything to make what is called a flavored butter, the most delicious of all fillings.

Before preparing sandwiches, if they are to be used at a luncheon or entertainment where other dishes accompany them, be careful that the flavoring is different from the salad with which they are served. It is really in better taste to offer nothing with a salad or cold meat except plain bread and butter; stik, fashion seems to demand a flavored nibble as a salad accompaniment. Fish, lobster, or shrimp salads are most appetizing with sandwiches of Boston brown bread holding a tender lettuce leaf or a sprig of watercress dipped in mayonnaise. Serve sandwiches of mild cheese, flavored by mustard or tarragon, with green salads. Whitebread sandwiches holding tender young nasturtium leaves between the buttered folds go well with salads of meat or fish. Garnish a plateful of this variety with a few nasturtium leaves and blossoms. Finely cut peppergrass, chives, endive or celery are all fitting accompaniments to sandwiches which are offered with a meat or chicken salad. Cucumbers and tomatoes thinly sliced and spread with mayonnaise make a delicious bite between buttered bread. Cut with a small cooky SANDWICHES cutter rounds of bread slightly larger than a slice of tomato or cucumber, and put the vegetable between them.

These, as well as herb sandwiches, must not be made until immediately before serving. a Cheese, which is generally the first course in a sandwich menu, may be spread between folds of white, Graham, or entire-wheat bread, or delicate crackers. Roquefort, fromage de Brie, or any of the stronger cheeses should be flavored with finely chopped olives or parsley and creamed butter. Combine with milder cheese chopped olives, walnut meats, anchovy essence, and a dash of mustard, McIlhenny's Tabasco Sauce, and salt. Grate hard cheese and mash soft cheese with a spoon, afterwards rub to a paste with mayonnaise or butter and flavoring. The delicious little cream or Neufchâtel cheeses may be blended with chopped walnuts, given a bit of seasoning by Parmesan cheese, also a hint of lemon juice and paprika.

Under the head of savory sandwiches is a long list of possibilities. They include meat, fish, egg, as well as fillings obtained from chopped olives and pickles, or some strong seasoning, curry, caviare, or anchovy.

For all sorts of meat, use a chopper, grinding with the finest knife.

It provides a paste which, blended with mayonnaise, is as easy to spread on bread as butter. Scores of recipes might be offered to direct this blending process, but the clever cook, with her own palate as criterion, can easily adapt a few suggestions to the materials on hand. Chicken bines well with celery, chopped nuts, and olives. The most delicate chicken sandwich is seasoned with celery salt and moistened with thick whipped cream instead of mayonnaise. Ham paste is blended with mayonnaise, mustard, chopped olives, and gherkins. Veal paste may be seasoned like chicken-indeed one can scarcely tell the difference between the two fillings. Roast beef, corn beef, lamb, and poultry paste make good sandwiches. com- If you have not enough of one meat, add to it another which harmonizes in flavor; for instance, veal goes well with any sort of poultry, while tongue and ham make a good mixture.

If remains of roast beef, lamb, or corn beef are small, chop and blend each separately; nothing seems to assimilate well with red-blooded meats. Use mustard, a few drops of onion extract, and chopped pickles as flavoring. They are better moistened with creamed butter than with mayonnaise. Put lobster, shrimp, or crab meat through the chopper. Cold fish or canned salmon is better delicately a AN 3 C a, French Coffeepot; b, Filter Coffeepot: c, Everyday Pot for Boiled Coffee. picked to flakes with a fork. Sardines, anchovies, and salt fish make tasty picnic sandwiches. Pound to a paste, and give a touch of acidity by lemon juice or chopped pickle. Eggs should be hard-boiled; allow to become thoroughly cold, then put through a chopper, mix with mayonnaise or butter, and season well. When one comes to sweet sandwiches, the variety is almost unlimited. Figs, dates, prunes, raisins, nuts, preserved ginger, and candied peel may be chopped, sweetened, moistened with whipped cream, lemon, orange, or pineapple juice and spread between folds of white bread.

When preparing them for an entertainment cut heart, diamond, or club shaped, and on top of each lay something which suggests the filling-an English walnut meat, a shred of MRS. CURTIS'S COOKBOOK green citron peel, or half a Maraschino cherry, dipped in icing to make them stick. When you wish to roll sandwiches, use fresh bread, spread very lightly with the filling, and pin into shape with a toothpick.

It is easy to keep sandwiches fresh some hours before they are required.

Wring a napkin as dry as possible from hot water-a good plan is to put it through the wringer-wrap the sandwiches in it, then cover in a stone jar or something which will exclude air.

Lamb Sandwiches.