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Date and Orange Sandwich
Remove the pulp and inner skin from six oranges, cut into small pieces, add one pound of chopped dates and a half-cup of walnut meats chopped fine; add halfcup of powdered sugar, moisten with a little sherry or port wine, and place the mixture between slices of lightly buttered white bread.
A tea-table sandwich rather than a lunch one, and the whole thing hinges on controlling juice. Orange flesh releases a great deal of liquid the moment it is cut, and bread has no defence against it.
- Drain the orangesSection the oranges over a bowl, cut the flesh small, then let it sit in a sieve for 15 minutes and press gently. The dates and sugar will absorb what remains; undrained pulp turns the bread to paste within minutes.
- "Powdered sugar"In books of this period the term often means finely granulated sugar rather than what Americans now sell as powdered or confectioners' sugar. Either works here, but modern confectioners' sugar contains cornstarch and will thicken the mixture slightly, which is no disadvantage.
- DatesThe pound is presumably a pound of usable fruit; allow a little extra if the dates have pits. Deglet Noor chop cleanly, Medjool are wetter and stickier and will need less liquid. Warming them briefly makes chopping easier.
- The wine"A little" is the operative phrase -- a tablespoon or two at most, added only if the mixture seems dry after the dates have taken up the orange juice. Cream sherry or ruby port suits the sweetness; dry sherry disappears entirely.
- Butter as a barrierThe light buttering is structural, not seasoning. Use softened, not melted, butter and take it right to the crusts so the fat seals the crumb against the fruit.
- BreadA close-grained white pan loaf, sliced thin, suits this filling; the recipe specifies only white bread. Day-old bread cuts more neatly and holds up better than fresh. Trim crusts and cut into fingers or triangles after filling, not before.
- Yield and timingThe filling is generous. Mix it several hours ahead if you like, but assemble no more than an hour before serving and keep the sandwiches covered with a damp cloth.
- WalnutsToast them lightly first. Raw walnuts in a sweet, wet filling read as soft and slightly bitter; five minutes in a 350F oven fixes both.
Eva Greene Fuller's The Up-to-Date Sandwich Book appeared in 1909, at the height of an American enthusiasm for the sandwich as party food rather than portable labourer's lunch -- hence its sweet fillings, apparently meant for afternoon tea, card parties and receptions, where a plate of crustless triangles was expected. Dates and oranges both signal the era's cheap new abundance of imported fruit: dates arrived by the box from Persia and North Africa, and Florida and California citrus was becoming more widely available than it had been. The date-and-walnut pairing was doing similar work in the quick breads and "fruit loaves" of the same decade, and the splash of sherry or port is a small holdover from an older, more baroque tradition of wine-moistened sweetmeats, still respectable in 1909 but gradually to fade from American cookbooks in the years around Prohibition.