No. 4
Melt a quarter of a pound of American cheese in a sauce pan, add the yolk of one egg beaten with two tablespoonfuls of cream, a dash of salt and red pepper, and half a teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce. Take from the fire and when cold, spread on thin slices of white or rye bread. Press the two together and cut in strips. Garnish with a pickle.
A cooked cheese spread in the Welsh rabbit family, chilled until firm enough to spread. The whole recipe turns on keeping the heat low once the egg goes in.
- The hinge: gentle heatMelt the cheese over the lowest possible heat, or in a bowl set over simmering water, and stir the yolk-and-cream mixture in off the direct flame. If the pan is hot enough to scramble the yolk you get grainy curds instead of a smooth paste, and no amount of beating will bring it back.
- "American cheese"In this period the term meant plain domestic factory cheddar, sold by the wedge from a wheel — sharper and drier than the wrapped processed slices that later took the name. Use a mild to medium cheddar. A quarter pound is 4 ounces, about a cup grated.
- Grate it firstThe original says melt, not grate, but shredded or thinly sliced cheese melts evenly at low temperature; a solid block will scorch on the bottom before the top gives way.
- Red pepperCayenne, not paprika and not sweet peppers. A dash means a pinch — perhaps an eighth of a teaspoon, enough to warm the back of the palate behind the Worcestershire.
- CreamCream then was not standardized as it is now; light cream or half-and-half is the closest modern match. Heavy cream works and gives a slightly richer set.
- Cooling and spreadingThe mixture must go fully cold, an hour or so refrigerated, before it will spread without tearing thin bread. It stiffens considerably; let it sit at room temperature a few minutes if it has gone too firm.
- YieldFour ounces of cheese makes roughly two-thirds of a cup of spread — enough for three or four sandwiches, cut into a dozen or so strips for a tea or card table.
- The pickleA gherkin or small sour cucumber pickle, fanned or sliced lengthwise on the plate. The acid is doing real work against the fat, so keep it sharp rather than sweet.
Small sandwich manuals proliferated in America between about 1900 and 1920, aimed at the hostess putting together afternoon teas, bridge luncheons and picnic baskets, and they lean heavily on spreads that could be made ahead and kept cold. This one is a close cousin of the Welsh rabbit — melted cheese enriched with egg and cream and seasoned with cayenne and Worcestershire — though it is cooled until it behaves like a potted paste rather than served hot on toast. Worcestershire sauce, by then a fixture in American pantries for half a century, appears constantly in these books as the all-purpose savory note, and the instruction to cut the sandwich into strips and set a pickle alongside reflects the era's fondness for the small, uniform, garnished portion.