Home › Egg › Sandwich (Mix one cup of chopped celery)
Sandwich (Mix one cup of chopped celery)
Mix one cup of chopped celery, one-fourth cup of chopped English walnuts, and one-fourth cup chopped olives. Moisten with mayonnaise and place between thin slices of lightly buttered brown bread.
A crisp, uncooked filling that depends entirely on how well the vegetables are drained. Everything hinges on excess moisture, which will turn the bread to paste within the hour.
- YieldAbout 1 1/2 cups of filling, enough for roughly 6 to 8 thin-bread sandwiches cut into halves or fingers.
- Drain the celery and olivesChop the celery fine, then press it in a towel; do the same with the olives after draining off the brine. Wet filling on thin buttered bread is the single failure point here.
- English walnutsThis is the ordinary walnut of the supermarket, specified to distinguish it from the stronger, oilier American black walnut. Toasting them briefly is not in the original but sharpens the flavor.
- OlivesMost likely brine-cured green olives; the recipe does not specify a variety, and both plain and pimiento-stuffed olives would suit. Pit and chop by hand rather than in a processor, which shreds them.
- Brown breadAmbiguous in period cookbooks. It can mean a plain whole-wheat or graham loaf, sliced thin, or steamed Boston brown bread; either would take thin slices and butter.
- MayonnaiseA homemade boiled or raw-yolk dressing is the likely period intention; commercial mayonnaise, made with pasteurized egg, works fine. Start with two tablespoons and add only enough to bind.
- SeasoningNo salt or pepper is given; the olives and mayonnaise carry some salt already. Taste before spreading and correct with black pepper and a squeeze of lemon.
- TimingMix the filling ahead if you like, but assemble no more than 30 minutes before serving. Butter to the very edges of the bread; it acts as the moisture barrier.
Eva Greene Fuller's The Up-to-Date Sandwich Book (1909) collects several hundred fillings at the moment the sandwich was moving from a picnic improvisation to a fixture of the ladies' luncheon and afternoon tea. Celery, walnuts and olives were all newly convenient: celery was widely available in markets, California walnut orchards were shipping shelled kernels, and imported Spanish olives came in glass. The combination is essentially a Waldorf-type salad without the apple, bound with mayonnaise. Thin brown bread was the usual vehicle for a sandwich of this kind.