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Sandwich Loaf
1 good sized loaf white bread, 24 hours old 1 cup Mazola Mayonnaise 1 medium sized can sardines, boned and shredded 1 small bottle stuffed olives, minced 3 finely minced pimientoes 1 medium sized can devilled ham 2 cream cheeses 3/4 cup chopped nut meats, any kind Butter Slice the crust off the bread, leaving a symetrical loaf. Slice lengthwise into three layers, spread with butter creamed till softened. Then spread the bottom layer with the olives mixed with a little mayonnaise and the sardines. Put the second layer in place and spread with the ham mixed with the pimientoes and mayonnaise to moisten. Put on the third layer. Then "frost" with the cream cheese mixed with enough mayonnaise to make it spread easily and dust thickly with chopped nuts. Chill and place upon a platter and garnish with lettuce or parsley.
A cold, layered sandwich cake, meant to be sliced at table like a loaf cake. The tricky parts are the bread and the fillings' moisture, not the assembly.
- "2 cream cheeses"Cream cheese was commonly sold in small bars of about 3 ounces at this date, so this probably means somewhere around 6 ounces total. A single 8-ounce block, softened, is close enough and gives a little extra for the sides.
- Can sizesThe recipe gives none of these by weight. A standard sardine tin runs about 3.75 oz net; canned deviled ham comes in small cans of roughly 4 oz; a small jar of stuffed olives is a few ounces drained. Judge by eye rather than trusting exact equivalents.
- Mazola MayonnaiseMazola is a corn oil brand, and the mayonnaise called for is the brand's, whether the bottled product or the book's own mayonnaise made with Mazola oil. Any full-fat commercial mayonnaise works; a cup total is divided among the two fillings and the frosting, so add it a spoonful at a time rather than measuring it out in advance.
- Why day-old breadFresh bread tears when sliced horizontally and compresses under the fillings. A firm, close-crumbed white sandwich loaf left uncovered overnight cuts cleanly. Slice with a long serrated knife, sawing, with the loaf lying on its side.
- Keep the fillings dryAdd only enough mayonnaise to bind. Sardines and olives both carry brine or oil, so drain them well and blot them; wet layers will soak through and the loaf will slump when cut.
- Softened, not melted butter"Butter creamed till softened" means room-temperature butter beaten smooth. Buttering each cut face seals the crumb against moisture, which is the point of the step.
- ChillingAn hour or two in the refrigerator, loosely covered or tented so the cheese frosting does not skin, lets the layers set enough to slice. It is a cold dish and should not sit out for long once served.
- YieldA standard loaf gives 10 to 12 slices, enough for a lunch for six to eight with a salad. Cut with a thin sharp knife, wiping the blade between slices.
The sandwich loaf belonged to the era of the ladies' luncheon, when a hostess was expected to produce something that looked composed on a platter rather than piled on a plate, and the conceit of "frosting" a savory loaf with cream cheese so that it resembled a cake was part of the appeal. Its ingredients are a catalogue of the early twentieth-century American pantry: canned sardines, deviled ham, bottled stuffed olives and canned pimientos, all shelf goods that let a cook assemble a showpiece without a stove. Mayonnaise made with Mazola corn oil is worked into every layer, which suggests the book came from the makers of that oil; promotional cookbooks of this kind were among the most widely circulated recipe sources of the period, and they were where a brand demonstrated versatility. Layered sandwich loaves stayed in community and church cookbooks for decades afterward.