Rant Sandwich
Spread thin slices of lightly buttered white bread with cream cheese; sprinkle currants over the cheese; then a teaspoonful of maple syrup. Cover with another slice of bread.
A three-ingredient sandwich that depends entirely on the proportions, since none are given. A few notes on what the ingredients meant in 1909.
- Cream cheese, 1909At this date "cream cheese" usually meant a fresh, soft, unripened cheese of the Neufchâtel type, sold loose and noticeably wetter and tangier than modern block cream cheese. Foil-wrapped Philadelphia-style cheese will work, but let it soften fully so it spreads without tearing thin bread.
- CurrantsThese are dried Zante currants, the small black raisins, not fresh redcurrants or blackcurrants. About a tablespoon per sandwich is plenty; more and the filling will not hold together.
- The maple syrupA teaspoon of syrup on soft cheese and thin bread will soak through within minutes. Stir the syrup into the cheese instead, or assemble immediately before serving.
- Bread"Thin slices" in a book of this kind probably means a hand-cut slice from a close-grained white loaf, thinner than modern commercial sandwich bread. The recipe specifies buttered bread but is ambiguous about the top slice; buttering both lightly will help slow the syrup soaking into the crumb.
- ServingNothing in the recipe specifies how it was cut or served, though sandwiches of this type in period collections were often trimmed and cut small for afternoon tea rather than served as a meal.
- Quantity, if you want a figureRoughly two tablespoons of cheese, one tablespoon of currants and a teaspoon of syrup per sandwich fills the bread without squeezing out at the edges.
The book this comes from, Eva Greene Fuller's 1909 collection "The Up-to-Date Sandwich Book: 400 Ways to Make a Sandwich," belongs to a brief American vogue for the sandwich as a genteel dish rather than a laborer's lunch: thin white bread, crusts off, filled with cheese, nuts, dried fruit or minced anything, and served at teas, card parties and church socials. That context explains the sweetness here; the odd title is harder to account for, and "Rant" may be nothing more than a printer's or scanner's mangling rather than a dish anyone asked for by name. The combination itself, fresh cheese with dried currants and maple syrup, is a straightforwardly North American one, using Zante currants and maple syrup.