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Anchovy and Cheese Canapes
6 anchovies 2 hard cooked eggs 4 tablespoons shortening 1/4 teaspoon salt few grains cayenne 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice 6 slices bread 4 tablespoons cheese, grated Wash and bone anchovies, pound them to a paste with egg yolks, shortening and seasonings; fry bread, spread with above paste, and sprinkle over them whites of eggs chopped very fine, cover with grated cheese and toast under the fire for one minute. Serves 6.
A canapé of the interwar cocktail-hour type: fried bread, an anchovy-and-yolk paste, chopped white and cheese under the broiler. Everything can be prepared ahead except the final minute of heat.
- Shortening means butter hereShortening here may well mean butter -- period cookbooks often used the word generically for any solid fat, butter included. In a paste that is spread cold and only briefly heated, hydrogenated shortening tastes waxy; 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) softened unsalted butter is the better choice.
- The anchoviesSix salt-packed anchovies genuinely need washing and boning. Oil-packed fillets are already boned: use six of them, blotted dry, and skip the washing. Salt-packed are considerably saltier, so hold back the ¼ teaspoon salt until you have tasted the paste.
- "Toast under the fire"This is the broiler, or the top element of an oven, at full heat with the rack close. One minute is accurate — long enough to melt the cheese, short enough that the chopped egg white does not dry out.
- Frying the breadFry in butter or oil until crisp on both sides, then drain on paper. A limp base collapses under the paste. Firm white sandwich bread suits it; the recipe specifies six slices and says nothing about trimming or cutting them.
- The cheeseUnspecified; a dry grating cheese is presumably meant. Parmesan or a well-aged Cheddar both work; 4 tablespoons of grated hard cheese is roughly 3/4 oz, a light dusting rather than a blanket.
- Order of assemblySpread the paste while the toast is still warm, scatter the chopped whites, then the cheese last so it forms the seal that browns. Reversing the last two leaves the egg white exposed and rubbery.
- YieldSix slices, served whole, is one apiece. Cut into quarters after broiling and you have two dozen small canapés, which is the more usual serving for a drinks table.