No. 856

Canapes Martha

Canapes a la Martha

Muffins three inches in diameter are used for these canapes; cut them through the center and toast them without burning, then cover with two ounces of lobster croquette preparation (No. 880); spread it on flat, lay over each a thin slice of Swiss cheese exactly the same size as the muffins, dust over with bread raspings and grated parmesam and brown them in the oven.

← No. 855 Canapes Lorenzo Hot Side Dishes No. 857 Canapes of Sweetbreads →

For the Modern Kitchen

A hot canapé from Ranhofer's The Epicurean, built on a toasted muffin half rather than the cold bread rounds the word suggests today. Everything depends on cross-reference No. 880, so read that first.

The hinge: the lobster preparationNo. 880 is a croquette mixture, which in this book means cooked lobster bound in a thick sauce and chilled firm; check the entry itself for the exact composition. It should be cold and firm before it goes on the toast, or it risks slumping out from under the cheese in the oven. Two ounces per canapé is a generous amount, spread flat as directed.
"Muffins three inches in diameter"These are yeast-raised griddle muffins, split horizontally — the ancestor of the supermarket English muffin, which is the closest substitute at roughly the right diameter. A 3-inch round cut from firm white bread and toasted works as well and holds its shape better under the filling.
Swiss cheeseIn 1894 New York kitchens this meant Emmental or Gruyère. Cut it thin, no more than 1/8 inch, and trim it to the exact diameter of the muffin as directed; overhang scorches onto the pan before the center melts.
Bread raspingsDried crusts grated to a fine, sandy crumb — drier and finer than fresh breadcrumbs, and closest to plain dried breadcrumbs today. The recipe gives no quantity for either the raspings or the grated Parmesan ( printed "parmesam" here); a light dust of each is in keeping with the instruction.
Oven heat"Brown them in the oven" implies a hot oven; in a modern range something in the region of 425–450°F for a few minutes will do, just long enough to melt the cheese and color the crumb. A broiler two or three inches from the element does the same faster and is easier to watch; the lobster inside is already cooked, so the only goal is browning.
Toasting without burningThe muffin is toasted twice in effect — once dry, once again under the cheese. Take the first toasting to pale gold only, or the edges will be black by the time the cheese has run.
YieldThe original gives none. Reckon two halves per person as a first course or four to six per person for a plate of hot savories with drinks; check No. 880 for how much the lobster mixture makes.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchen at Delmonico's, and The Epicurean (1894) is essentially that restaurant's internal system set down in print, which is why so many entries are little more than an assembly note pointing at a numbered preparation elsewhere in the book. Hot canapés occupy a whole run of numbers in the side-dish chapter, each named for a person or place — Lorenzo, Martha, and dozens more — and the names generally carry no meaning beyond house tradition and the need to distinguish one garnish from another on a long menu; Delmonico's habit of naming dishes after patrons and performers is well documented, though the specific Martha here is not identified. The construction is simple enough: croquette forcemeat from a preparation cross-referenced elsewhere, a slice of Swiss cheese, dried crusts saved and grated, all brought together on a split griddle muffin and sent out hot as one of the small savory courses that punctuated a nineteenth-century American dinner of many services.