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Cheese Dreams
Cut twelve thin slices of bread and remove crusts. Cut in halves, cover with a thin slice of American cheese, sprinkle with salt, paprika and cayenne; cover with another slice of bread and sauté on both sides in butter. These are more easily prepared small than large.
A chafing-dish grilled cheese, cut small and cooked in butter. The only technical demands are the thickness of the bread and the heat of the pan.
- "American cheese" in 1907This means plain factory-made cheddar, sold in wheels and cut to order — not the wrapped processed slices of today. Use a mild to medium cheddar, sliced thin so it melts before the bread browns too far.
- BreadThin slices of a close-crumbed white sandwich loaf, about a quarter inch. Anything airy or holey will soak up butter and collapse; day-old bread holds together better than fresh.
- Why smallThe note at the end is the hinge. Small pieces heat through in the time it takes the outsides to colour; full slices brown before the centre melts.
- Heat and fatMedium heat, and enough butter that the bread fries rather than toasts — a tablespoon or so per batch, added fresh as it is absorbed. Two to three minutes a side. Press lightly with a spatula to seal the edges.
- SeasoningSalt, paprika and cayenne go on the cheese, not the bread. An eighth of a teaspoon of cayenne spread across twelve slices is plenty for most palates.
- YieldTwelve slices halved gives twenty-four pieces, which pair into twelve small sandwiches — enough for four to six people as a savoury or late supper dish alongside coffee or a salad.
- Doing it in a skilletNothing is lost by using a heavy frying pan. Work in batches, keep finished ones on a rack rather than a plate so the undersides stay crisp, and serve hot; they turn leathery as they cool.
Cheese dreams belong to the chafing-dish craze that ran through American entertaining from the 1890s into the 1920s, when a spirit-lamp burner and a copper pan let a hostess cook at the table without servants. The repertoire was deliberately narrow — things that could be melted, creamed or scrambled in a shallow pan over a low flame — and cheese in one form or another dominated it, from Welsh rarebit to these fried sandwiches. The name is generally taken as a play on "Welsh rarebit" lore, the old joke being that toasted cheese eaten late gives you vivid dreams. Lowney's Cook Book, published by the Walter M. Lowney Company of Boston as an advertisement for its chocolate and cocoa, nonetheless covers a full general kitchen.