Home › Cheese › French Cheese Sandwich
French Cheese Sandwich
Slice brown bread very thin, butter, lay thinly sliced cheese on top, and spread over cheese a thick layer of any kind of jam, and cover with another slice of bread.
A three-line sandwich that depends entirely on the choice of cheese and jam. A few notes on what the 1909 kitchen would have reached for.
- Brown bread"Brown bread" in an American sandwich book of this date may mean either a plain wholemeal or graham loaf or the steamed Boston brown bread, both of which were used for sandwiches. A firm wholemeal sandwich loaf, sliced thin enough to bend, works as a substitute.
- The cheeseThe recipe itself specifies no variety; the title's "French" suggests a soft ripened type such as Brie, Camembert or Neufchatel, though that is an inference. Slicing thinly is easier if the cheese is cold, though the flavour is better once it comes back to room temperature.
- Butter both slicesThe recipe butters only the base, but with a thick layer of jam the top slice will go soggy within minutes. Butter both cut faces if the sandwiches are to stand at all.
- Jam choiceAny kind of jam is offered, but the pairing works best with something acidic enough to cut soft cheese: cherry, quince, black currant or apricot. Very sweet jams with a mild cheese give a sandwich that reads as dessert.
- Thick layerA thick layer of jam on a thin slice of bread will squeeze out under pressure. Spread it to within a quarter inch of the edges and press the sandwich gently before cutting.
- Yield and servingNo quantity is given. Reckon on roughly 1 oz of cheese and a tablespoon of jam per round; trim the crusts and cut into fingers or triangles if serving with tea.
Sandwich books proliferated in the first decade of the twentieth century alongside the fashion for afternoon tea and the ladies' luncheon, and they leaned heavily on short, formulaic entries like this one — a filling, a bread, and a name. Neufchâtel had already been domesticated by New York dairies by the early 1870s and was widely sold. The pairing of cheese with fruit preserve is far older than the sandwich itself and is traditional across much of Europe, from quince paste with Manchego to cherry jam with soft cheeses; the innovation here is simply putting it between two slices of bread and calling it a course.