The pageant of historical sandwiches // 6 Sandwiches, 4 centuries

Last time I looked at the story of how we got the name sandwich and the man behind it. Today we are going look at some historical sandwich recipes and their general overview over the last 4 centuries. Sounds fun? I think so.

First known written sandwich recipe from Charlotte Masons cookbook Mrs Mason's Cookery or the Ladies Assistant from 1787

Let’s start with the Georgian sandwiches. As we found out previously Mr Lord Sandwich liked to put leftover meat in between two thin, buttered slices of bread and have it as a quick meal. People around him noticed it and started to order ,,the same as Sandwich”. Slowly but surely it grew so popular that in 1787 Charlotte Mason published a recipe for one in her cookbook “Mrs Mason's Cookery or the Ladies Assistant”, the first known written recipe for a sandwich.

It states that beef, veal or ham could be used as a filling and that the bread need to be thinly sliced and buttered. Simple, uncomplicated instructions for a light meal. I choose ham because that is what I prefer and the bread was a simple sandwich loaf. In the period, if you were able to afford, you would have used white bread, it being the fanciest and poshest. Unfortunately the bakery was out of it when I there, so a substitute of a stoneground, wholemeal bread will do. Unless otherwise noted, I will use it for all the other breads as well.

What can I say about the a good old ham sandwich that haven’t been said before? To paraphrase Joey. Bread? Good. Butter? Good. Ham? GOOOOD! A solid sandwich. As long as you choose the ingredients wisely. It is hard to hide faults in simplicity.

Instructions for sandwich preparations from William Kitcheners cookbook The Cooks Oracle from 1822

Up next we have the Regency sandwiches. By this time sandwiches had enter into most peoples kitchens and so their novelty was long gone. In fact if we are to believe William Kitchener (“The Cooks Oracle”, 1822), sandwiches ,,have got out of fashion from the bad manner in which they are commonly made”. He complains that people put any offal or meat in between slices of bread that cannot be sent to the table otherwise. He also puts emphasis on trimming the meat of any skin, gristle and other ungodliness. Alright the I added the last bit. You can see what he said in the screenshot above.

There are a lot more variety mentioned for fillings. In addition to cold meat, we also see potted meat and fish, cheese, anchovies, sausages, hard boiled eggs with cheese, various forcemeats and curry powder and mustard when applicable.

I opted for salmon pate. In my books pate is a method of a short term preservation method just like potted fish. While I usually make my own, I was feeling a bit lazy and decided to buy a ready made one. If you choose to make your own, I suggest David Lebovitz recipe. That is generally the one that I use as a base and find it very adaptable. I might be stretching it a little bit but I just really wanted some salmon pate. I think the sandwich would have been a lot tastier if I have made my own pate and it would have benefited from a slice or two of cucumber, pickled onions, watercress or all of the above.

Overview of sandwich preparations from 1892 cookbook Cassells Dictionary of Cookery

The third sandwich is from the good ol’ Victorians. Here I mostly looked at recipes from 1880’s and 1890’s cookbooks. Just like Kitchiner in his book, the 1892 cookbook ”Cassells Dictionary of Cookery” states that sandwiches have gone out of fashion due to careless manner in which they are often made. If I was doubtful previously about this statement, then even more so for the Victorians. That is because there are far more sandwich recipes found in the late Victorian cookbooks than before. I suspect the authors are a bit high nosed about the type of sandwiches people make when not particularly caring about their appearance and daintiness.

Overview on sandwiches from 1899 cookbook Salads, Sandwiches and Chafing dish dainties by Janet McKenzie Hill

Cassell also notes that there are a lot more options with the fillings that before, even mentioning a Glaswegian confectioner who made ,,no fewer than a hundred different kind of sandwiches”. While looking over the sandwich recipes from the late Victorian cookbooks, even with all the “borrowing” from other authors, there was a good range of variety. Novel combinations and eye catching creations reigned high, not unlike the selection in our own hipster cafes today. However according to Cassell there are three universal rules a that ought to be observed.

Firstly, whatever meat you chose to use must be free ,,from skin, gristle and all unpalatable portions, and it should be cut up into mouthfuls”.

Secondly, bread should be tin baked a few days earlier for the purpose of making sandwiches. The crust removed and the bread cut into 1/8” thick slices. The bread can be white, brown, wholewheat, rye or any other type. It should also be buttered evenly with fresh butter but only after cut into desired shape. As Ms Janet McKenzie Hill warns ,,do not spread butter or filling upon the bread before it is cut from the loaf and into shape. When so treated, the butter or filling on the extreme edge of the bread is liable to soil the fingers or gloves that come in contact with with”. Many cookbooks also suggest to cream the butter to make it airy and more spreadable. This method also allows to add additional flavours, for example, horseradish, lemon zest, garlic and so on.

Thirdly, the meat should be seasoned with salt, pepper and mustard when appropriate, then laid “between two sliced and buttered pieces of bread, pressed it with the hand to make the ingredients adhere and cut (…) with a sharp knife”. There are many more add-ons that appear in sandwich recipes. For example, Worcestershire or horseradish sauce for roast beef or boiled tongue; capers, tomato sauce, mushroom ketchup, or cold mint sauce for lamb; celery salt for chicken or veal and lemon juice for fish.

Victorians also seems to be very concerned about the sandwiches being freshly made or at the very least kept moist. If you are not going to eat them immediately, most of the authors suggest to cover them with a damp napkin to keep moist. To be fair, it is a travesty when you get a sandwich that is as dry as politicians apology.

And lastly Ms Hill has given advice on what kind of be beverages are acceptable to serve with sandwiches. Tea and coffee are good choices. However cocoa and chocolate should only be served with dainty and aesthetic sandwiches filled with fruits or sweetmeats. Yes, there are quiet a few recipes for sweet sandwiches which I took the liberty ignore.

Aberdeen sandwich from 1892 cookbook Cassells Dictionary of Cookery

For our Victorian contestant, I chose the Aberdeen sandwich found in the Cassells cookbook. First, a few sliced of bread (crusts off) were fried in ghee until golden and crispy, then set on paper towels to drain. Next I mixed together 100 grams of cold, cooked chicken, 50 grams of ham, both finely chopped. In a small saucepan 2 tbsp chicken stock and 1 tbsp butter chicken curry paste were mixed and brought to a boil. The recipe just indicated a curry paste which by this time was readily available in the shops. Not wanting to go down the rabbit hole of what kind of curry pastes were popular in the late 1890’s I decided to go what sounded good in that moment. Once the stock was boiling, I added the chicken and ham mixture and stirred until all the liquid was absorbed and the filling warmed up. Then spread the filling between the toasts and served. It was my boyfriends favourite sandwich I made and I do agree it was quiet nice however if I would make this again a some kind of pickle or chutney would be a nice addition.

As you can see the bread was a bit over fried. Since I recently moved I am still getting to know my gas stove top. I am not used to having things cook so quickly and the frankly superior heat control over electric stove tops.

There is also a sandwich called Adelaide sandwich. It goes one step further and tells you to add some Parmesan cheese on top and broil the sandwich in the oven for a few minutes to melt it. Since there was some leftover filling I decided to make a toastie version with cheese in the filling rather than on top. I liked this version better though it still lacked some acidity.

Chicago club sandwich recipe from Eva Greene Fuller cookbook The Up-to-date Sandwich Book. 400 ways to make a sandwich (1909)

Up next I decided to look at recipes from the beginning of 1900’s up to around 1930’s. Along with the 20th century thankfully came far less high nosed remarks about sandwiches. Although to be fair I do have a love/hate relationship with the Victorian period and it could all be my own prejudice. In the cookbooks from the turn of the century and onwards, I often saw a distinction being made between sandwiches ,,intended for utility and those fancy ones which figure at smart 5 o’clock tea and other tables” as S. Beaty-Pewnall kindly put it. Charles Herman Senn in his book “Recherché Side Dishes for breakfast, luncheon, dinner and supper” also talks about this. He puts emphasis on cooking with care and attention, not on fancy and expensive ingredients. As for the fillings, as long as the flavours work together, anything goes.

I came across a cookbook by Eva Greene Fuller called “The Up-to-date Sandwich Book. 400 ways to make a sandwich” from 1909. There she had quiet a few club sandwich recipes and I decided to try one, namely the Chicago Club sandwich. Here your layers are as follow - white buttered bread, chicken, bacon, rye bread, lettuce with a smear of mayo, green capsicum and lastly white buttered bread. The sandwich was tasty, nothing spectacular but good. I mean it has bacon in it so how bad can it be?

Recipe for peanut butter and bacon sandwich from American Government WWII recipe booklet from November, 1942

For quiet a while I have been fascinated by the rationing during the WWII and the frugal and clever ways housewifes made do and carried on. So I thought it would be fun to dip my toes in the subject and try to find a sandwich recipe from the time. Not having much knowledge about the time nor any wartime cookbooks in my collection, it took me a while till I managed to find a booklet which had sandwich recipes. The one I settled on was issued by the Home Economics Institute (USA) from November, 1942. It contains a few sandwich recipes and the one that caught my eye was for peanut butter and bacon sandwich. A similar sandwich was made popular by everyone’s favourite royalty - King Elvis Presley. His sandwich had peanut butter, bacon and banana as opposed to the wartime recipe where you used mayonnaise instead of bananas. I must admit because of the connotation of the sandwich I had higher hopes for it. The sandwich was underwhelming and tasted mostly of just peanut butter.

To round up the list I thought to included a sandwich I like to make the most often – a toastie. This is a copycat-sh recipe from my local toastie joint Toastface Grillah, local watering hole here in Perth, where we can satisfy both of our toastie and coffee needs. To make one you need to smear one side of bread with mustard (I used jalapeno and honey mustard), then put ham, apple slices and cheddar and lastly another slice of bread. Butter both outsides of bread and sprinkle some dried rosemary. Toast and enjoy.

So what have I learned in this experiment?

Lesson 1. I am modern woman with modern sensibilities and like my sandwiches beyond the basic flavour combination. There always was something missing and I want things my way. A few instances in my life when I want less traditional and more fusion hipster.

Lesson 2. Leave or don’t your crusts on, but cut the sandwich diagonally. As you can see, I have conducted thorough and effective research into this issue to comply with the 2022 standards and the results are indisputable.

Lesson 3. Cook something from old cookbooks, you might learn something new.

If you have come across a fun and tasty sandwich recipe, I would love to hear about it. Till next time,
L.

Sources

Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery, 1892
Beaty-Pownall, S., The "Queen" Cookery Book, Series IX, Salads, Sandwiches and Savouries, 1905
Bradley, Alexander Orr, Mrs, Beverages and Sandwiches for your husband's friends, 1893
Edith, Sister St. Mary, The Secret of Good Cooking, 1928
Fuller, Eva Greene, The Up-to-date Sandwich Book. 400 ways to make a sandwich, 1909
Hill, Janet McKenzie, Salads, Sandwiches and Chafing dish dainties, 1899
Kitchiner, William, The Cook’s Oracle, 1822
Mason, Charlotte, Mrs Mason's Cookery or the Ladies Assistant, 1787
Senn, Charles Herman, Recherche Side Dishes for breakfast, luncheon, dinner and supper, 1901
Home Economics Institute, Health for Victory Club, 11/1943