Radish Sandwich
Between thin slices of lightly buttered white bread place sprigs of watercress and thin slices of a radish that has been dipped in French dressing. Can be served with the fish course.
A three-ingredient sandwich that lives or dies on the crispness of the radish and the thinness of the bread. Two details in the original need translation.
- French dressing meant vinaigretteIn a 1900s American cookbook this is oil, vinegar, salt and pepper whisked to a temporary emulsion — roughly three parts oil to one of vinegar. It is not the sweet, tomato-tinted bottled dressing that later took the name in the United States.
- Slice thin, dress at the last momentRadishes shed water once salted and acidulated, and a sandwich built ahead will have a soggy bottom slice. Cut the radishes paper-thin, toss them in the dressing, lift them out with a fork and build immediately.
- BreadThe recipe's "thin slices" points to a close-crumbed sandwich loaf, perhaps around 1/4 inch; crusts are commonly trimmed for a tea sandwich, though the original does not say to. A soft supermarket loaf will tear; chill or lightly firm the loaf before slicing thin.
- Butter as waterproofingThe butter is structural as well as flavouring. Spread it soft and edge to edge so the crumb is sealed against the dressing.
- WatercressUse only the tender sprigs and strip the thick stems, which are stringy in a sandwich. Pea shoots or young arugula stand in acceptably if watercress is not to be had.
- Yield and serviceOne good bunch of radishes and a small bunch of watercress will fill about eight slices, cut into sixteen fingers or triangles. Served with fish, as the original suggests, they function as a peppery relish rather than a course.
Radish sandwiches belong to the fashion for very thin, savoury tea sandwiches that filled American and British household books from the 1890s through the 1920s, when sandwich collections were common and served the afternoon tea, card party and picnic hamper. The radish itself was an old kitchen-garden staple eaten raw with salt and butter — a habit still visible in the French radis au beurre — and the sandwich is essentially that snack given bread and a suit of clothes. Pairing the peppery radish and watercress with a fish course reflects a period logic that assigned each dish a place in a long sequenced meal; watercress was widely thought of as an appetizing green and turns up frequently in books of this era as a garnish.