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Veal Sandwiches
Chop some cold roast veal and place in a mortar with salt, pepper and a small quantity of tarragon vinegar. Slice some hard-boiled eggs, remove the yolks, being careful not to break the rings of white, place them in the mortar with the veal and pound well. Spread a small quantity of mixed mustard over some slices of bread, then lay the white rings of egg on them, and fill each ring with the pounded mixture, cover them with slices of bread and press them lightly together. Cut the sandwiches into halves, and serve them.
A leftovers dish dressed up for the tea table: the whole point is the ring of egg white left intact and filled with the pounded veal, so treat the eggs as a construction material rather than an ingredient.
- The hinge: slicing the eggsHard-boiled eggs must be fully cold before slicing, and the slices should come from the middle of the egg where the ring is widest and even. An egg slicer or a thin, wet knife gives clean rings; the end slices, which have no usable ring, can go into the mortar with the yolks.
- Mortar or machineA food processor will do the pounding in seconds, but pulse rather than run it, or the veal turns to paste and loses all texture. A mortar gives a coarser, better mixture; if using one, chop the veal quite fine first so it breaks down without a long fight.
- "Mixed mustard"The period term for mustard powder slaked with water or vinegar to a paste, usually made up shortly before use, though bottled prepared mustards were also on sale by then. Prepared English mustard is the closest ready equivalent; use it sparingly, as the filling is already sharpened with vinegar.
- Tarragon vinegarStill sold, and worth seeking out for this, since the anise note is what keeps cold veal from tasting flat. A small quantity means a teaspoon or two for a cup of chopped meat, added gradually; too much and the mixture weeps into the bread.
- Cold roast vealVeal is expensive and less commonly roasted now. Cold roast pork loin or leftover roast chicken behaves the same way in the mortar, though neither is the same dish. Whatever the meat, trim gristle and skin before chopping or the paste will be stringy.
- Bread and assemblyA close-crumbed white sandwich loaf, thinly sliced, is what this expects. Butter the slices as well as mustarding them if the sandwiches are to sit even briefly, since butter seals the crumb against the vinegar in the filling.
- YieldNo quantities are given anywhere. As a working figure, two cups of chopped veal and six eggs will fill about eight rounds of sandwiches, cut into sixteen halves.
- Holding timeAssemble close to serving. Cut sandwiches left out dry at the edges within the hour; cover with a barely damp cloth and refrigerate if there is any wait, and bring back to cool room temperature before cutting.
Oscar Tschirky ran the dining rooms at the Waldorf from its opening in 1893 and put his name to this book three years later, at a moment often described as the sandwich's passage from a tavern item to something a hotel might present at a ladies' luncheon or a late supper after the theatre. The construction here is pure Waldorf: an ordinary use for yesterday's roast, made into a set piece by preserving the ring of egg white and setting the seasoned meat inside it, so that each cut half shows a neat white circle. Tarragon vinegar and slaked mustard are generally taken to have been common pantry goods in a professional kitchen of the period, both used to lift cold meats that had lost their roasting juices. Oscar himself was never a chef but a maitre d'hotel, and the book reads that way throughout, more concerned with how a dish looks when it reaches the table than with how long it takes to make.