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Pecan Sandwich No. 2
Chop pecan nuts very fine, moisten with a little mayonnaise dressing and place between thin slices of lightly buttered white bread.
A three-line filling that stands or falls on the texture of the nuts and the freshness of the bread. The original gives no quantities, so work by feel.
- ProportionsRoughly 1 cup of finely chopped pecans to 3-4 tablespoons of mayonnaise makes a spread that holds together without weeping. Add the dressing a spoonful at a time; too much and the bread goes damp within minutes.
- Chop, do not grind"Very fine" means knife-fine, not paste. A food processor will pull the oil out of pecans and turn the filling greasy and dark; pulse briefly or chop by hand.
- Toast the nuts firstNot in the original, but 6-8 minutes in a moderate oven (about 350F) dries the pecans and deepens the flavour considerably. Let them cool completely before mixing, or the warmth will loosen the dressing.
- The mayonnaise of 1909The mayonnaise of the period -- Mayonnaise dressing was commonly made at home from raw yolk, oil, vinegar or lemon, and mustard, and tended to be thinner and sharper than jarred mayonnaise. Commercial mayonnaise benefits from a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt to bring it closer.
- Bread"Thin slices of lightly buttered white bread" suggests a close-crumbed sandwich loaf, cut thin -- around 1/4 inch. The butter probably serves as much to seal the crumb against the dressing as to add flavour.
- Cutting and servingSandwiches of this kind were generally tea sandwiches. Trim the crusts and cut into triangles or fingers; one cup of filling makes about 6 sandwiches, or 24 small pieces. Assemble no more than an hour ahead and keep them covered with a damp towel.
Pecan sandwiches turn up repeatedly in early twentieth-century American sandwich collections, and the pecan is the reason: it is one of the few commercially important nuts native to North America, and by the 1900s improved grafted varieties out of Texas and the lower Mississippi valley were beginning to come into bearing commercially. The book's Nut section reflects a moment when the afternoon tea sandwich was expected to be delicate, pale and mild, and when a bound nut filling was a genteel alternative to meat. The instruction to use mayonnaise rather than butter alone as the binder is characteristic of the period's enthusiasm for boiled and blended dressings.