Fish Sandwich
To cold cooked fish, minced fine, add a little chopped pickle. Season with pepper and salt. Place between two slices of buttered white bread.
A leftovers formula rather than a fixed recipe, and it works with almost any cooked fish you already have. The only real decisions are moisture and cut.
- QuantitiesNone are given. Roughly 1/2 cup of flaked fish and 1 tablespoon of chopped pickle fills two sandwiches; adjust so the mixture holds together without weeping.
- Which fishCooked salmon, halibut, cod, haddock or leftover baked whitefish all work. Canned salmon or tuna, drained well, can be used in the same way.
- "Minced fine"Flake with a fork rather than chopping to paste. Over-working cooked fish turns it pasty and the sandwich loses any texture.
- The pickleMost likely a cucumber pickle or a mixed chowchow of the sort common in period cookery. Dill or sweet gherkin both suit; drain and pat it dry, since pickle brine will soak the bread within minutes.
- Butter is structuralButter both slices to the edges. It acts as a moisture barrier between a damp filling and soft white bread; the original does specify buttered bread rather than plain.
- Cold fish onlyThe book assumes fish already cooked and chilled. Use leftovers within two days of cooking, keep the made filling refrigerated, and do not let assembled sandwiches sit out at room temperature.
- ServingTrim the crusts and cut into triangles or fingers for a tea plate. Yields two sandwiches per batch as described.
Sandwich books proliferated in the United States between about 1900 and 1920, when afternoon teas, card parties and packed lunches created steady demand for small, cold, portable food. A great many of their entries are exactly this: a way to use up what was left from the previous day's dinner, dressed with something sharp to wake it up. The pairing of cooked fish with chopped pickle is the same logic behind tartar sauce, acid and crunch against soft, mild flesh, and it survives today in the tuna salad sandwich, which differs mainly in leaning on mayonnaise rather than butter for its binding.