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Sardellen Paste Sandwich
Wash, bone, and skin one-half pound of sardellen and mash to a paste. Rub together the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs and one teaspoonful of butter until smooth, then add the sardellen paste. Mix and spread on small squares of buttered toast. Serve with an olive.
A salt-anchovy spread from the era when German delicatessen terms sat unglossed in American cookbooks. The whole recipe hinges on how salty your fish is before you start.
- Sardellen are anchoviesThe word is German for anchovy, and at this date it would generally have meant salt-packed anchovies rather than the oil-packed fillets in a flat tin. Half a pound of whole salted fish will yield considerably less usable flesh once heads, bones and skin are gone.
- Soak before you use themBarrel-packed anchovies need 20-30 minutes in cold water or milk, with a change or two, before boning. Skip this and the paste is inedibly salty. If you substitute oil-packed fillets, use about 3 oz, rinse and pat them dry, and skip the boning and skinning entirely.
- The butter is a binder, not a flavourOne teaspoon to two egg yolks is a stiff ratio by modern taste. Work the yolks and butter through a sieve or mash them thoroughly with a fork first; lumps of yolk will not disappear once the fish goes in. A little more soft butter loosens the paste to a spreadable consistency.
- No added salt anywhereDo not salt the yolk mixture and use unsalted butter if you have it. A grind of pepper and a few drops of lemon juice are period-appropriate and cut the richness.
- Buttered toast, then pasteButtering the toast helps keep it from going soggy under a wet spread. Cut the squares after toasting, roughly 1.5 inches, and assemble close to serving.
- YieldThe paste will cover roughly two dozen small squares, a canape course rather than a lunch. Covered in the refrigerator it will keep a few days, though the yolk will dry at the surface.
- The oliveA green olive, stuffed or plain, set beside or on each square.
Sardellen is simply the German word for anchovies, and its survival untranslated in an American sandwich book of this period says something about who was cooking. Salt anchovies, anchovy butter and anchovy paste came into English and American kitchens through both the German delicatessen trade and the older British taste for anchovy essence in sauces. The dish itself belongs to a whole family of pounded-fish spreads on toast squares that filled out the afternoon-tea and card-party table, where the point was something salty and rich enough that a very small portion would do. The instruction to mash to a paste and rub together the yolks is a reminder that this was hand work: no food processor, and the smoothness of the result was a measure of the cook's patience.