Farmer Sandwich
Between thin slices of white bread, place thin slices of cold roast pork; on top of this spread apple sauce.
A two-ingredient sandwich that depends entirely on the quality of the roast and the tartness of the sauce. A few notes on proportion and construction.
- Cut the pork properlyCold roast pork carved thick turns leathery in a sandwich. Slice it against the grain as thin as the joint will allow, and use two or three slices rather than one heavy one.
- The apple sauce should be tartApple sauce served with meat was often made from cooking apples with little or no sugar, closer to a sharp puree than the sweetened jarred product sold today, though period recipes vary and many do add sugar. If using a commercial sauce, choose an unsweetened one, or the sandwich reads as dessert.
- Drain the sauceApple sauce carries a good deal of free liquid that will soak straight through thin white bread. Let it sit in a sieve for ten minutes, or cook it down a little, before spreading.
- "On top of this" means insideThe instruction describes the order of assembly, not an open sandwich. The second slice of bread goes over the apple sauce.
- Butter is assumedButter is optional -- The original names no spread, so butter is a modern choice rather than something the entry specifies. A thin film on both slices does slow the sauce from wetting the crumb.
- SeasoningThe original gives none. Salt and a little black pepper on the pork, and a pinch of salt in the sauce, make the difference between a sandwich and two cold leftovers.
- YieldAs written this is one sandwich. Figure roughly 2 oz of sliced pork and a heaped tablespoon of sauce per round.
Pork with apple is a long-established pairing in English and American cooking, the fruit's acid cutting the fat of the joint, and the sandwich here is simply Sunday's roast and its accompaniment moved onto bread the following day. Collections that did nothing but catalogue sandwich combinations were published in some numbers as the sandwich moved from a tavern snack towards an item for luncheons, teas and picnics. The name "Farmer Sandwich" reads as a label rather than a claim of origin: it signals plain, substantial, rural food. Note how little the entry says. The compiler assumes a cook who has a cold roast on hand, knows how to make apple sauce, and needs only the idea.