SANDWICHES The old-fashioned sandwich—two thick wedges of bread, erratically buttered, hard of crust, exuding mus tard, and with frills of ham or corned beef about the edge--has been rele gated to the past by the arrival of the meat chopper. The sandwiches of the past were of half-dozen va rieties; the filling of a modern sand wich is limited only by what you have on hand. Fish, flesh, fowl, vege tables, eggs, nuts, olives, fruit, cheese, and pickles may be utilized alone, or combined, and the result, when prepared by a skillful cook, is a dainty and delicious morsel.
If many sandwiches are required, as for a reception or picnic, bake the bread specially for them; there is less waste and the work is much easier. Keep on hand plenty of baking-pow der cans, pound and half-pound sizes, also a few oblong tins which have held one pound of cocoa. Nothing can excel these as molds for baking bread for picnic sandwiches; it is tender, almost crustless, it needs no trimming to make two slices accord in size, and it bakes or steams much more quickly than in larger tins. Make the bread twenty-four hours before it is required and try to have it fine grained. Fill the cans half full of dough and set to raise. When almost at the top of the tins, put to bake with the lids off. Fill three quarters full of brown-bread mix ture; it does not raise so much as bread which has yeast in it. Slip the small loaves out of the tins as soon as taken from the oven or steamer and set on el wire stand to cool; then wrap in towels and put away in the bread box until required.
The next consideration is butter. Put a pound of butter (if you have many sandwiches to make) in a mix ing bowl and with a slitted wooden spoon beat it to a fine, light cream, exactly as for cake making. The but ter is much easier to spread, it is more economical, then it is ready to divide into portions and blend with anything to make what is called a flavored butter, the most delicious of all fillings.
Before preparing sandwiches, if they are to be used at a luncheon or entertainment where other dishes ac company them, be careful that the flavoring is different from the salad with which they are served. It is
really in better taste to offer nothing with a salad or cold meat except plain bread and butter; still, fash ion seems to demand a flavored nib ble as a salad accompaniment. Fish, lobster, or shrimp salads are most appetizing with sandwiches of Boston brown bread holding a tender lettuce leaf or a sprig of watercress dipped in mayonnaise. Serve sandwiches of mild cheese, flavored by mustard or tarragon, with green salads. White bread sandwiches holding tender young nasturtium leaves betvveen the buttered folds go well with salads of meat or fish. Garnish a plateful of this variety with a few nastur tium leaves and blossoms. Finely cut peppergrass, chives, endive or celery are all fitting accompani ments to sandwiches which are of fered with a meat or chicken sal ad. Cucumbers and tomatoes thinly sliced and spread with mayonnaise make a delicious bite between but tered bread. Cut with a small cooky cutter rounds of bread slightly larger than a slice of tomato or cucumber, and put the vegetable between them. These, as well as herb sandwiches, must not be made until immediately before serving.
Cheese, which is generally the first course in a sandwich menu, may be spread between folds of white, Gra ham, or entire-wheat bread, or deli cate crackers. Roquefort, fromage de Brie, or any of the stronger cheeses should be flavored with fine ly chopped olives or parsley and creamed butter. Combine with a milder cheese chopped olives, wal nut meats, anchovy essence, and a dash of mustard, Mcllhenny's Ta basco Sauce, and salt. Grate hard cheese and mash soft cheese with a spoon, afterwards rub to a paste with mayonnaise or butter and flav oring. The delicious little cream or Neufchatel cheeses may be blended with chopped walnuts, given a bit of seasoning by Parmesan cheese, also a hint of lemon juice and paprika.