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Canapes
Canapes are made by cutting one-fourth inch slices of bread into fancy shapes. These pieces are then brushed lightly with shortening and browned in oven or fried in deep fat until a golden brown. They are then covered with a seasoned mixture of eggs, force-meat or cheese. They are served hot or cold and usually take the place of oysters at a dinner or luncheon.
This is a method rather than a fixed recipe: it gives the technique for the base and leaves the topping to the cook. The points below fill in the numbers the original assumes you already know.
- Oven temperatureNo heat is specified. Bread cut a quarter inch thick crisps well on a sheet pan at 375-400F in about 8-10 minutes, turned once. For deep fat, 350-365F gives a golden crust before the centre dries out.
- Shortening"Shortening" in older cookbooks is a general term for any fat used in cooking, most often lard and later hydrogenated vegetable fat. Melted butter, clarified butter or a neutral oil all work; butter browns faster, so watch it closely.
- Force-meatForce-meat is finely ground seasoned meat, poultry or fish, worked to a paste — the same idea as a modern pâté or potted-meat spread. If you use it, it must be fully cooked before it goes on the toast, since the bread bases are only browned, not baked through with the topping.
- BreadA close-crumbed white sandwich loaf, slightly stale, cuts cleanly into rounds and diamonds. Fresh bakery bread with an open crumb tears under a cutter and soaks up fat.
- Egg toppingsThe seasoned egg mixture is most likely hard-cooked egg mashed with butter or mayonnaise and seasoning rather than raw or lightly set egg; the original does not specify. Cook the eggs first and chill them before mashing.
- Hot or coldToast the bases in advance and hold them at room temperature; they keep a day in a tin. Add wet toppings only just before serving or the bases go soft.
- YieldYield depends on the loaf and the cutter; a quarter-inch slice will give several shapes at a 1.5-inch cutter, allowing for trim. Figure three to four per person as a first course.
- Where it sits in the meal"In place of oysters" means the canapes open the meal, before the soup. A modern equivalent is simply passing them with drinks beforehand.