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Party Sandwich Rolls
Cut Fresh bread is used for these sandwiches. the slices as thin as possible and remove the crusts. Lay crisp lettuce leaves that have been dipped in mayonnaise dressing on the slices; on top of that place thin shavings of cold boiled ham; roll the slices very closely and fasten with a toothpick or ribbon. Pile on a serving dish and garnish with pickles and radishes.
A rolled tea sandwich that depends almost entirely on the bread. The first sentence has been scrambled in setting — it should read "Fresh bread is used for these sandwiches. Cut the slices as thin as possible and remove the crusts."
- The hinge: fresh, soft breadDay-old or firm bread will crack the moment it curls. Use a soft close-crumbed sandwich loaf, and if it is at all dry, roll each slice flat with a rolling pin first — this both thins it and makes it pliable.
- Slice thickness"As thin as possible" probably works out to something near 1/8 inch, though the recipe gives no figure. An unsliced pullman loaf and a long serrated knife will get you there; commercial sandwich slices are thicker and can still be rolled if pressed flat.
- Cold boiled hamThis could mean a ham simmered at home and sliced off the joint, but ready-cooked boiled ham was also sold by delicatessens and packers by this date. Any good deli-sliced cooked ham works, shaved as thin as the counter will cut it.
- Mayonnaise dressingPeriod "mayonnaise dressing" was not always the same thing as the jarred product; recipes range from true mayonnaise to versions thinned with cream. Dip the lettuce lightly or the roll will slide apart; a sturdy inner romaine leaf holds up better than iceberg.
- Holding themRoll tightly, then chill the finished rolls seam-side down under a damp towel for 30 minutes. They set in shape and the toothpicks or ribbons become decorative rather than structural. They do not keep overnight — the lettuce weeps.
- YieldOne standard loaf gives roughly 20 to 24 rolls, enough for eight to ten people as part of a tea or buffet spread.
Rolled sandwiches belong to the era of the afternoon reception, when a hostess was judged on how little her food looked like a meal. Eva Greene Fuller's collection, published in Chicago in 1909, catalogues hundreds of variations on bread and filling for exactly this kind of occasion. The ribbon fastening is the tell: it marks the roll as ornament rather than sustenance, in the same spirit as the pickle and radish garnish.