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Egg Sandwiches
Chop finely the whites of "hard-boiled" eggs; force the yolks through a strainer or potato ricer. Mix yolks and whites, season with salt and pepper, and moisten with Mayonnaise or Cream Salad Dressing. Spread mixture between thin slices of buttered bread prepared as for Bread and Butter Folds.
A plain egg salad filling, distinguished only by the separate treatment of whites and yolks — which is the whole point of it.
- Why separate the yolksRicing or sieving the yolks gives a smooth, almost creamy base that binds the dressing, while the chopped whites stay distinct. Mashing everything together with a fork produces a coarser, wetter filling; the two-step method is what makes this version worth the trouble.
- "Hard-boiled" in quotation marksThe quotes may signal Farmer's dislike of the term: for eggs cooked in the shell she directs water held below the boil rather than a rolling boil, though the times she gives are considerably longer than modern ones. For modern practice, roughly 10-12 minutes off the boil for large eggs, then straight into cold water.
- Cream Salad DressingThe book's cooked dressing: cream or milk with egg, cooked gently and sharpened with vinegar and mustard. It is tangier and less rich than mayonnaise. Any cooked-style boiled dressing, or a mix of mayonnaise loosened with sour cream, stands in.
- Mayonnaise made at homeThe original assumes a raw-yolk mayonnaise made in the kitchen. Commercial mayonnaise uses pasteurised egg and is the practical choice, particularly if the sandwiches will sit at a tea table for any length of time.
- Bread and Butter FoldsThe referenced method: butter the end of an unsliced loaf, cut a very thin slice, then repeat. Buttering before cutting keeps the slice from tearing and seals the crumb against the wet filling. A sandwich loaf and softened butter get you to the same place.
- QuantityNo amounts are given. Six hard-cooked eggs with about 1/3 cup dressing fills roughly a dozen small tea sandwiches; season generously, as chilled egg swallows salt.
- Holding and servingCut off the crusts after assembly, not before, and keep the finished sandwiches under a damp cloth in the refrigerator. Egg filling is a perishable, low-acid mixture — an hour or two at room temperature is the outside limit.
Egg sandwiches sit in the chapter Fannie Farmer devoted to the fashionable light foods of the late nineteenth-century Boston tea table, where sandwiches were made small, crustless and thin enough to be eaten standing up. The section is a fair index of what a genteel household kept on hand: eggs, potted meats, cheese, nuts and watercress, all bound with one of the book's dressings. The instruction to press the yolks through a potato ricer is a small period marker in itself. The cross-references to Mayonnaise, Cream Salad Dressing and Bread and Butter Folds show the book working as its author intended: a system of building blocks rather than a collection of standalone dishes.