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Halibut Sandwiches with Aspic (After the aspic is poured into)
After the aspic is poured into the pans, sprinkle upon it some fine-cut Spanish pimentos. When ready to serve, prepare as lobster sandwiches with aspic, using fish in the place of lobster, and, if desired, sauce tartare in the place of mayonnaise.
Shrimps, salmon or other fish, chicken, veal, tongue, sweetbreads, etc., may be used either with lettuce or with chopped celery, cress, cucumbers, etc. Or the vegetables may be used without either fish, flesh or fowl.
This is a variation entry rather than a standalone recipe: it assumes you have already made the book's lobster sandwiches with aspic and are simply swapping the filling. A few of its assumptions need translating.
- Read the parent recipe firstLittle here makes sense without the lobster-and-aspic sandwich it points back to. This entry tells us only that the jelly is set in pans and that the sandwiches are otherwise made as the lobster ones are; for the cutting and assembling, go to that recipe.
- "Pans" means shallow traysThe aspic is poured perhaps a quarter-inch deep into a flat pan or jelly tin so it can be cut into squares or rounds. A small rimmed sheet pan or a glass baking dish does the job; chill until firmly set, then cut with a knife dipped in hot water.
- Aspic without calf's footPeriod aspic was often built from a long-simmered stock that gelled on its own. Powdered gelatin will stand in: for a jelly firm enough to cut into sheets and hold in a sandwich, reckon on about one envelope (about 2 1/4 tsp) per cup of well-seasoned fish or chicken stock, rather less for a softer set.
- Spanish pimentosThese are sweet red peppers, roasted and peeled, sold today in jars or tins. Drain and blot them thoroughly before cutting, or the surface water will keep the aspic from setting cleanly around them.
- The halibutPoach a thick fillet gently in court bouillon or salted water until just opaque, cool it, and flake in fairly large pieces. Halibut dries and shreds if pushed past done, and shredded fish will not sit neatly under a sheet of jelly.
- Sauce tartareConventionally mayonnaise with chopped capers, gherkins, parsley and often a little onion or shallot; the book will have its own version. It is the better choice with fish; keep it thick, since a loose dressing will soak the bread.
- Assembly and holdingButter the bread to the edges so it seals against the moisture of the jelly, and assemble no more than an hour or two ahead. Aspic sandwiches are a cold buffet dish and should be kept refrigerated until they go to the table; the jelly softens quickly in a warm room.
- SubstitutionsThe final sentences are the author telling you the formula is a template. Shrimp, salmon, chicken, veal, tongue and sweetbreads all work, as does a vegetable-only version with celery, cress or cucumber, provided the filling is well drained.
Janet McKenzie Hill's Salads, Sandwiches and Chafing-Dish Dainties belongs to the turn-of-the-century vogue for cold, decorative, gelatin-set food, which took hold once reliable packaged gelatin made clear jelly a matter of measuring rather than of boiling calves' feet all day. Aspic in a sandwich looks odd now, but it solved a practical problem for a hostess: a sheet of firm jelly holds flaked fish in place, keeps it moist, and lets sandwiches be cut in advance for a luncheon, card party or chafing-dish supper. The list of permitted substitutes at the end - shrimp, salmon, tongue, sweetbreads, or nothing but vegetables - is characteristic of Hill, who edited the Boston Cooking School Magazine and wrote for cooks expected to extend a single technique across a whole season's entertaining. The pimentos, sold in tins, were as much about colour against the pale jelly as about flavour.