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Canapes, Moreno-Russe
Prepare six one-and-a-half-inch-square pieces of toast. Lightly and nicely spread a teaspoon Russian caviare on top of each toast. Chop very finely three sweet Spanish red peppers and evenly spread over the caviare. Dress on a dish with a few small leaves of well-cleaned and well-drained lettuce around the dish and serve.
A cold canapé that needs no cooking beyond the toast, so the only variables are the quality of the caviar and the neatness of the cutting.
- Toast the bread dry and thinCut the bread into 1½-inch squares, then toast or dry it until crisp but barely coloured. Damp or thick toast collapses under the caviar within minutes.
- "Russian caviare"In 1900 this meant salted sturgeon roe from the Caspian, sold graded as beluga, osetra or sevruga. Wild Caspian sturgeon is now restricted under CITES; farmed sturgeon caviar, or trout or salmon roe, fills the same place on the toast.
- A teaspoon is the right amountSpread it, do not mound it. The original's "lightly and nicely" suggests the pepper is meant to sit on the surface in an even layer rather than on a heap.
- Sweet Spanish red peppersThese are pimientos, sold roasted, peeled and packed in jars. Drain and blot them dry before chopping or the liquid will run into the caviar and dull it.
- Handle the roe gentlyUse a light hand, as pressure bursts the eggs. Caviar is traditionally served with non-metal spoons, on the grounds that metal is said to impart a tinny note.
- Yield and timingSix canapés, enough for two or three people as an appetizer. Assemble no more than about fifteen minutes before serving and keep the caviar refrigerated until the last moment.
- The lettuceIt is a garnish and a border for the platter, not a base. Small inner leaves of romaine or Bibb, dried thoroughly, keep the dish from wetting the toast.
The name is a hybrid of the kind common on hotel menus around 1900: a Russian element, the caviar, dressed with something Spanish, and the whole given a French-sounding title to fit the card. The International Cook Book was written by Alexander Filippini, long associated with Delmonico's in New York, and its canapé chapter reflects the era when caviar came into American dining rooms in quantity — American sturgeon roe, notably from the Delaware, was the dominant product, much of it shipped to Europe and sold back under Russian names. The small square of toast with a savoury spread, eaten standing or served before soup, is often said to have been a fairly new fashion in English-language cookbooks of the period, borrowed with its French name intact.