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Anchovy Club Sandwiches
Thoroughly wipe twenty-four anchovies in oil, prepare twelve pieces toast and spread a very little anchovy butter over each. Arrange four anchovies on six toasts, lay six half slices hot bacon over anchovies, spread a little mayonnaise over six well cleaned and drained lettuce leaves and place over bacon. Cover with the other six toasts, neatly trim off crusts and cut in triangular halves, dress on a hot dish, set in oven for two minutes, remove and serve.
A club sandwich built on anchovies rather than chicken, and one that depends on everything being hot at the same moment. Assemble with the bacon and toast straight from the heat.
- Anchovies in oilThese are the salt-cured fillets packed in oil, not the whole salted fish. Twenty-four fillets is roughly two 2 oz tins. Blot them well on paper towel or the toast turns greasy and slack.
- Anchovy butterNot sold in most shops now. Mash a few drained fillets or a teaspoon of anchovy paste into 2 oz softened butter. "A very little" is meant literally, since the fillets themselves carry the salt.
- BaconSix half slices means three rashers cut in two. Cook to just crisp rather than brittle so the sandwich cuts cleanly.
- The two minutes in the ovenThis is a brief warming through, not baking. The recipe gives no temperature; two minutes in an already hot oven is all that is meant, and longer risks the lettuce wilting into the mayonnaise.
- Order of assemblyMayonnaise goes on the lettuce, not the toast, which keeps the bread from going soft. Follow that as written.
- YieldTwelve slices of toast makes six sandwiches, twelve triangles. Enough for six as a savoury or three as a light lunch.
- SaltThere is no added salt anywhere in the recipe and none is needed. Taste the anchovy butter before spreading if you have used paste, which varies considerably in strength.
The club sandwich was established in American hotel and restaurant dining by the 1890s, and is variously attributed to club dining rooms of the northeastern United States, though the origin is not settled; it had already spawned variations by the time this book was compiled. The double-decked, crust-trimmed, triangle-cut format here is standard club construction; only the filling has been swapped, anchovy for the usual chicken or turkey. That swap connects the sandwich to the British tradition of the anchovy savoury, the salty course served at the end of a meal. Anchovy butter, anchovy paste and bottled anchovy essence were common pantry items of the period, paste sold in small pots and essence in bottles, and used for the purpose cooks now reach for Worcestershire sauce or fish sauce: a concentrated jolt of savour.