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Sardine Canapes No. 2
Take a box of sardines, remove bone and skin, rub to a paste with three ounces of fresh butter, and gradually add four tablespoonfuls of thick cream, until a paste is formed. Spread the paste over toasted rounds of white bread; sprinkle chopped olives over the whole.
A straightforward sardine butter on toast rounds; the only real technique is getting the paste smooth without letting the butter break.
- A box of sardinesTin sizes varied, though many period boxes were in the same 3 to 4 oz range as a modern tin. One standard tin of sardines in oil, well drained, is a reasonable quantity against 3 oz of butter.
- Bone and skinModern brisling and small sardines have soft, edible backbones that mash into the paste unnoticed. Larger sardines still benefit from having the spine lifted out and the loose skin scraped away, mostly for texture.
- Butter temperature is the hingeThe butter must be genuinely soft, not melted, or the cream will not emulsify and the paste will separate into oily flecks. Work the fish and butter to a smooth mass first, then add the cream a tablespoon at a time, beating between additions.
- Thick creamThis means heavy or double cream, not the thin pouring cream sold as light. Four tablespoons into 3 oz of butter gives a soft spreadable paste; less if you want it to hold a piped shape.
- Toasted roundsCut rounds from firm white sandwich bread with a 1.5 to 2 inch cutter before toasting, so the edges stay clean. Toast them dry and let them cool completely, or the butter paste will melt and soak in.
- OlivesThe recipe does not specify a type; green olives in brine are the likely intent. Drain and pat them dry, since brine will loosen the paste. Chop fine so they sit on the surface rather than rolling off.
- Yield and holdingThe quantity covers roughly 24 to 30 small rounds. Assemble no more than an hour ahead and keep chilled; the paste itself keeps two or three days covered in the refrigerator, and needs to come back to room temperature to spread.
Canapés of this kind belong to the era when tinned fish moved from ship's stores to the drawing room. Sardines packed in oil were among the earlier reliably shelf-stable foods, and by the late nineteenth century a box of them was a common pantry item in Britain and America — cheap, long-keeping, and always ready for an unannounced caller. Sandwich and canapé books of the period are full of them, often pounded with butter, which both stretched the fish and gave the paste enough body to hold on toast. The numbered variations, "No. 1", "No. 2", and so on, are typical of these compilations: slight differences between versions, enough to fill a chapter for a hostess expected to serve something a little different at each gathering.