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Southern Sandwiches
3 ounces cream cheese 1/3 cup ham, finely ground 1/2 cup chicken, finely ground 1/3 cup mayonnaise slices of bread Mix the ham, chicken and cream cheese together until smooth, then add mayonnaise and spread between slices of buttered bread.
A simple bound spread of the kind that filled tea-table and bridge-party sandwiches. The whole success of it is texture: the meats must be ground fine enough that the filling spreads without tearing the bread.
- Cream cheeseThree ounces is a bit over a third of a standard 8-ounce block. Let it come fully to room temperature before mixing or it will stay lumpy and drag the bread.
- "Finely ground" meatThis means run through a meat grinder on the fine plate, giving a paste-like consistency. A food processor pulsed in short bursts is the modern equivalent; chopping by hand leaves pieces that will tear soft sandwich bread.
- Cooked meat onlyBoth the ham and chicken are already-cooked leftovers here. Poached breast or roast chicken pulled from the bone both work; the ham should be a cured, cooked ham rather than raw.
- MayonnaiseA third of a cup is enough to loosen the mixture to a soft spread. Add it gradually and stop when the filling holds a shape on the knife, since bread quantity and meat moisture vary.
- Butter the breadNot decoration. A thin film of softened butter on each slice seals the crumb against the mayonnaise and keeps the sandwiches from going soggy if they stand an hour before serving.
- YieldRoughly 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups of filling, enough for about 6 to 8 full sandwiches, or two to three dozen crustless tea sandwiches cut in fingers or triangles.
- KeepingA mayonnaise-and-meat filling should be refrigerated and used within a day, and assembled sandwiches held covered in the cold until serving rather than left out on the sideboard.