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Ham and Egg Club Sandwich
Chop cold boiled ham very fine and rub smooth in a mortar; pass the yolks of four hard-boiled eggs through a sieve and add a little mayonnaise dressing. Cut white bread very thin and lightly butter; on one slice spread the ham, then cover with another slice, and on that spread the egg mixture with a crisp lettuce leaf between, topped by a third slice of lightly buttered bread. Garnish with a pickle.
A three-decker built from two spreads rather than the grilled bacon-and-chicken version the name suggests today. The whole thing depends on the spreads being smooth enough to go on thin bread without tearing it.
- Mortar work, or a food processorChopping the ham fine and then pounding it smooth is what turns it into a spreadable paste rather than a scatter of cubes. A short pulse in a food processor does the same job; add a spoonful of mayonnaise if it refuses to come together.
- Sieving the yolksPressing hard-boiled yolks through a fine sieve gives a fluffy, lump-free texture that mashing with a fork will not match. A drum sieve or a fine mesh strainer and the back of a spoon both work.
- "A little mayonnaise"Start with about a tablespoon for four yolks and add more only until the mixture holds together as a paste. Too much and it slides out of the sandwich under the weight of the top slice.
- Quantities and yieldThe recipe fixes only the four yolks; it gives no weight of ham and no yield. Judge the ham by eye against the amount of egg spread. The whites are left over here; chop them into the egg spread or save them for a salad.
- The breadA close-crumbed white sandwich loaf, sliced thin and buttered right to the edges, is what this needs. The butter is structural as much as flavouring, sealing the bread against the moisture in both spreads.
- Assembly orderHam on the bottom layer, egg above, lettuce sitting between the egg and the top slice. The recipe says nothing about trimming or cutting; club sandwiches were often trimmed and quartered, and picks help if the stack is tall.
- Make and eatBoth spreads can be made several hours ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator, but assemble at the last minute; lettuce against a wet spread wilts quickly.
The club sandwich was in print and in American hotel and clubhouse dining rooms by the end of the 1880s and was well known through the 1890s. By this period the word "club" was often used for the construction — three slices of bread, two fillings, lettuce — as much as for any fixed set of ingredients, which is why a version with no chicken and no bacon can be called a club sandwich here. A mortar and a fine sieve were among the tools used to work leftover boiled ham and hard-boiled eggs smooth enough for thin bread, though household meat choppers were also widely sold by this date. The pickle garnish supplies acid against two rich fillings.