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Game Sandwiches
For game sandwiches, spread the bread with butter, lay on thin slices of any kind of game, covering with another slice of bread which has been spread with butter.
A bare instruction of the kind cookbooks of the period gave for anything considered self-evident. The work is entirely in the carving and the seasoning, neither of which is mentioned.
- What "game" meant hereCold roast grouse, partridge, pheasant, quail, venison or hare — leftovers from a roast, not raw meat. Any cold roast dark poultry or a slice of rare roast venison stands in. Turkey or chicken thigh meat is the nearest supermarket equivalent.
- Slice against the grainGame birds and venison are leaner and more fibrous than beef, and a thick slice with the grain running lengthways is unchewable in a sandwich. Chill the meat fully first, then cut as thin as the knife allows across the fibres.
- Season the meat, not the breadThe recipe says nothing about salt or pepper. Cold lean meat tastes flat; salt and pepper the slices directly before laying them down.
- Butter both facesButtering both slices, as written, is not just for flavor — it seals the crumb against moisture from the meat. Use butter soft enough to spread thin without tearing the bread.
- BreadA close-crumbed white loaf, cut thin, suits this best. Crusts were commonly removed for tea sandwiches.
- Accompaniments the book leaves outRedcurrant jelly, a little chopped watercress, or a seasoned butter all go with game and correct the dryness.
- Holding and yieldWrap in wax paper or a damp napkin and keep cold; they are best within a few hours. Yield depends entirely on the bird: a quail gives a sandwich or two, a pheasant several.
Game sandwiches belong to the shooting and traveling culture that produced the sandwich chapters common in American and British household books of the era. Wild birds arrived in the kitchen in quantity and irregularly, roasts were served hot at dinner, and the picked-over carcass reappeared the next day between bread — for a shooting lunch, a railway journey, a picnic hamper, or the late supper after cards. The recipe's terseness is the point: it is a filing entry telling the cook that game, like ham or tongue, is one of the standard sandwich meats. It also reflects a food supply that has since narrowed. Wild grouse, quail and plover were still sold in city markets around 1900; the Lacey Act of 1900 and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 progressively closed down the commercial market in American wild game, so a cook today reaches for farmed birds or the results of a licensed hunt.