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Russian Sandwiches
Spread zephyrettes with thin slices of Neufchâtel cheese, cover with finely chopped olives moistened with Mayonnaise Dressing. Place a zephyrette over each and press together.
A wafer sandwich meant for a tea tray, and the whole thing hinges on assembling it at the last minute. Two of the three named items have shifted meaning since 1896.
- ZephyrettesA very thin, crisp unsweetened cracker or wafer sold commercially around 1900; the name is usually taken to evoke lightness. Any plain thin water cracker or wafer cracker stands in; look for something brittle rather than a sturdy saltine, since these are meant to snap when bitten.
- NeufchâtelNeufch he period this meant a soft, fresh, unripened cheese much like cream cheese but leaner — not the bloomy-rind Neufchâtel of Normandy. Modern American Neufchâtel (by US standard lower in fat than cream cheese) is the closest available equivalent and works well here.
- Slicing the cheese"Thin slices" of a soft fresh cheese is easier with the block well chilled and a knife dipped in hot water. Alternatively, spread it — the mechanical result is the same and it grips the chopped olives better.
- The olivesChop green brine-cured olives fine and blot them dry before adding mayonnaise, or the moisture goes straight into the cracker. Moisten just enough to bind; the mixture should hold together on a spoon, not slump.
- MayonnaiseThe book's own dressing is raw-yolk mayonnaise. Commercial jarred mayonnaise, made with pasteurized egg, works and keeps better in a filling that will sit on a tray.
- TimingAssemble within half an hour of serving. Wafer crackers turn leathery quickly once damp filling touches them, and there is no way back.
- Yield and servingThe recipe gives no quantity. Figure roughly 1/2 cup chopped olives and 4 oz cheese for about 18 to 20 small sandwiches, cut in halves or quarters if the wafers are large.
Sandwich chapters in turn-of-the-century American cookbooks are full of dishes labeled "Russian" with no Russian ancestry to speak of; the word attached itself to almost anything involving a chopped, mayonnaise-bound filling. One suggested lineage, though it remains speculation, is the Russian zákuski table — an array of small salted, pickled and fishy bites taken before a meal — which is said to have reached American hostesses secondhand as a fashion for savory tidbits at afternoon tea and card parties. What makes the recipe a period document is the assumption that the reader can buy zephyrettes and Neufchâtel by name: both were commercial products, and Fannie Farmer's book is written for a kitchen that has begun to lean on factory-made ingredients rather than making every component from scratch.