Wich No. 3
Chop English walnuts fine; moisten with a little mayonnaise dressing, and place between thin slices of lightly buttered brown bread.
A three-line sandwich filling that lives or dies on the walnuts. The original assumes you know what brown bread and English walnuts meant in 1909.
- English walnutsThese are the ordinary walnuts sold today (Juglans regia), called English to distinguish them from the native American black walnut, which is far stronger and more resinous. Black walnuts will overwhelm the mayonnaise; use the common kind unless you want that flavour.
- Freshness matters mostWalnut oil turns rancid quickly and rancid nuts cannot be rescued by dressing. Taste one before chopping, and buy from a shop with turnover rather than using a bag that has sat in a cupboard.
- Toast themThe recipe does not say to, but five to seven minutes in a 350F oven, then cooled completely, deepens the flavour and firms the texture so the nuts do not go pasty in the mayonnaise. Cool before chopping or the oils smear.
- Brown breadIn an American book of this period this could mean either a wholemeal or graham loaf or the steamed molasses Boston brown bread; both were current, and thin-sliced steamed brown bread was itself common in tea sandwiches. Either works, but the steamed kind is sweet and dense and makes a different sandwich altogether.
- "A little" dressingEnough to bind and no more, roughly a tablespoon of mayonnaise to a half cup of chopped nuts. Over-moistened, the filling slumps and soaks the thin bread; the intent is chopped nuts held together, not a paste.
- SeasoningThe original relies on the mayonnaise for salt. A pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper in the nuts is worth adding, and a squeeze of lemon cuts the richness.
- YieldHalf a cup of chopped walnuts fills about three rounds of sandwiches cut into quarters. The recipe itself gives no quantity or yield.
Eva Greene Fuller's collection belongs to the brief American vogue, roughly 1900 to 1920, for the sandwich as a genteel item rather than a labourer's lunch: thin bread, crusts off, cut in fingers or fancy shapes, served at afternoon teas, card parties and receptions. Whole chapters are organised by filling, among them a chapter of nut sandwiches drawing on walnuts, almonds and pecans. Mayonnaise appears constantly in these books as a universal binder; it was still generally made at home from egg yolk and oil, commercial bottled versions only becoming widespread in American kitchens in the following decades. The recipe's brevity is characteristic of the genre, which assumed a cook who already knew how to make dressing and needed only the combination.