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Mosaic Sandwich (White brown and graham bread)
White, brown, and graham bread are used for this sandwich. Cut the slices thin and spread with green butter. The butter is made by putting cold boiled spinach through a sieve, season with finely chopped parsley and capers, and mix smooth with creamed butter. Put slices together.
A ribbon sandwich built for looks: three breads of different colours, a green spread, and clean cuts. Almost all the work is in the butter and the chilling.
- Dry the spinach hardThis is the hinge. Cooked spinach holds an astonishing amount of water, and wet purée will break the emulsion and soak the crumb within minutes. Squeeze the boiled spinach in a towel until no more liquid comes out, then sieve it.
- Proportions, which the original omitsNo quantities are given. A workable starting point is 2 tablespoons of dry sieved spinach to 1/2 cup (1 stick) of softened butter, with a teaspoon each of chopped parsley and capers; adjust colour and salt from there. Cream the butter first, then beat in the greens, or it will not go smooth.
- Graham breadGraham flour is coarsely ground whole wheat, milled with the bran and germ. A dense whole-wheat sandwich loaf substitutes directly.
- Brown breadIn American books of this period "brown bread" may mean the steamed molasses loaf, which is round, sticky, and hard to cut into neat rectangles; it can equally mean a baked whole-meal or molasses loaf. For a three-tone mosaic, a dark rye or pumpernickel sandwich loaf is easier to work with and gives better contrast against the white and the graham.
- Cutting thinChill the loaves before slicing and use a long serrated knife; 1/4 inch is thin enough to layer without the stack becoming a brick. Day-old bread slices far more cleanly than fresh.
- Making it actually mosaicThe instruction "put slices together" assumes a technique the book takes for granted. Stack the buttered slices in alternating colours, wrap the block tightly and chill until firm, trim off all four crusts, then cut across the layers so the stripes show on the face of each piece.
- CapersDrain and blot them, and chop finer than seems necessary. Whole capers burst into brine pockets that discolour the butter and blotch the bread.
- Yield and holdingOne stick of green butter dresses roughly a dozen slices, giving about 18 small cut sandwiches. Assemble no more than a few hours ahead, keep the block wrapped and cold, and cut just before serving.
Green butter, or beurre vert, is an old professional garnish: blanched greens and herbs pounded into butter, used in French kitchens to tint and flavour cold work, and known alongside anchovy, lobster and pistachio butters. The mosaic or ribbon sandwich belongs to the same moment, when afternoon tea, card parties and church socials created steady demand for food that was small, cold, and made to be looked at before it was eaten; commercial bakeries selling uniform white, graham and rye pan loaves supplied the materials for the striped effect.