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Lobster Sandwiches with Aspic
Chop the lobster fine, mix with mayonnaise dressing to taste, spread upon a bit of aspic, cover with a crisp lettuce leaf, and above this place another piece of aspic spread with the lobster mixture. Serve at once.
This is a sandwich with no bread in it: two slabs of firm aspic stand in for the slices. Everything depends on the jelly being stiff enough to lift and cold enough to hold.
- The aspic is the hingeThe recipe assumes a savory jelly, presumably fish or chicken stock, set firm enough to cut into clean squares (about 3/8 inch thick works) and lift with a spatula. Modern stock is often less gelatinous than a long-boiled period stock, so it is safest to plan on 1 envelope (about 2 1/4 tsp) granulated gelatin per cup of well-flavored, clarified stock, chilled at least 4 hours in a shallow pan.
- Work cold, serve cold"Serve at once" is not politeness. Aspic begins to slump at room temperature and mayonnaise can quickly weep into it, so assemble on chilled plates immediately before they go to the table.
- QuantitiesThe recipe gives none. Figure the meat of one 1 1/4-lb lobster, roughly 5 oz picked meat, with 3 to 4 tablespoons mayonnaise, for six small sandwiches as a first course or luncheon dish.
- "Mayonnaise dressing"In period usage this means a hand-beaten mayonnaise made with raw yolks. If you make your own and are serving anyone pregnant, elderly or immune-compromised, use pasteurized eggs; jarred mayonnaise is already pasteurized and works here.
- Chop, do not mince"Chop fine" generally implies pieces that are still visible rather than a paste. Reduce lobster to a paste and the filling turns pink and pasty against the clear jelly, which defeats the point of the dish.
- LettuceUse a small inner leaf of romaine or a butter-lettuce heart, dried thoroughly. Any water on the leaf will slick the aspic and the layers will slide.
- Cutting the jellyDip the knife in hot water and wipe it between cuts, or run a thin blade around the pan and turn the sheet out onto parchment before cutting. Squares roughly 1 1/2 inches hold together better than rounds.
Janet McKenzie Hill wrote this book at the height of the American fashion for cold, molded, gelatin-set food, a fashion made possible by commercially packaged granulated gelatin, which reached home kitchens in the 1890s and gradually displaced the long labor of boiling down calves' feet or isinglass. Aspic once meant a savory jelly of clarified stock and was the mark of a competent cook, since a clear jelly proved careful skimming and straining; by 1900 it had become a decorative medium for chicken, sweetbreads and shellfish at ladies' luncheons. Lobster carried particular prestige in this setting: canned lobster was cheap and common, and it is reasonable to suppose that fresh boiled lobster signaled a good table, while the "sandwich" without bread was exactly the sort of small conceit a hostess was expected to produce for a cold course. The book's pairing of salads, sandwiches and chafing-dish cookery reflects the same social moment, when informal at-home entertaining was done without a full kitchen staff in the room.