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French Roll Sandwich
French rolls are used for this sandwich. Make a small round opening in top of each and take out some of the crumbs; save the small crusts from the top of the opening; chop fine five olives, a tablespoonful of capers, one green sweet pepper (seeds removed), one gherkin, the white meat of one chicken, and two ounces of tongue chopped fine. Moisten with mayonnaise dressing. Fill this mixture into the roll, put the small crust on top, and garnish with a pickle.
A stuffed roll rather than a layered sandwich, and the whole thing hinges on getting the filling wet enough to hold together but not wet enough to soak the crust. Chop everything finer than feels necessary, then bind sparingly.
- French rollsIn a book of this period this means a small crusty white oval or round roll, roughly the size of a fist — not a long baguette. Modern kaiser rolls, small ciabatta rolls or dinner-sized crusty rolls all work. The crust needs to be firm enough to stand up once hollowed..
- Hollowing the rollCut a circle in the top with a paring knife held at a slight inward angle so the lid sits back in place rather than falling through. Pull out the soft crumb with your fingers and leave a shell about half an inch thick all round.
- TongueCooked, pressed beef tongue was a common cold-cut in this period and is now a deli-counter or butcher special order. Two ounces is a scant quarter cup once chopped; thin-sliced pastrami or a well-cured ham can stand in if tongue is unavailable.
- Green sweet pepperAn ordinary green bell pepper. Raw, it will weep into the mayonnaise, so chop it fine, salt it briefly and blot it dry, or use a drained jarred roasted pepper instead.
- The white meat of one chickenBoth breasts from a roast bird, about 8 to 10 ounces cooked, which dominates the filling. Poached or leftover roast chicken both work; avoid anything that has been sitting in liquid.
- BindingAdd mayonnaise a tablespoon at a time until the mixture just clings when pressed with the back of a spoon. Olives, capers and gherkin bring plenty of salt and acid, so taste before adding any.
- Yield and servingThe quantities fill about four rolls, each a substantial single serving. Assemble no more than a couple of hours ahead, keep refrigerated, and set the lid on only just before serving so the crust stays crisp.
- The garnishA whole pickle laid alongside, or a fan-cut gherkin, in the manner of a buffet plate rather than a plated lunch. It is doing work the recipe assumes: cutting the richness of the mayonnaise.
Sandwiches like this appear to belong to the American ladies' luncheon and card-party culture that produced whole books of them around the turn of the twentieth century. The hollowed roll u2014 a trick that, done on a large loaf, is often called a pain surprise in French usage u2014 let a hostess serve a moist minced filling without the plate-side collapse of buttered bread, and the same approach shows up filled with creamed lobster, chicken salad or minced ham. The filling itself is essentially a chopped salad of the delicatessen larder: olives, capers, gherkins and tongue were all shelf or counter staples, and mayonnaise, made at home, was the usual binder. Tongue's presence is a good marker of the period; it was an unremarkable cold meat in 1900 and is generally said to have dropped out of ordinary American kitchens within two generations.