Rub the yolk of a hard-boiled egg very smooth, adding a good pinch of salt, a grain or two of cayenne pepper, and a quarter of a teaspoonful of made mustard; then add alternately, and drop by drop, lest the sauce should curdle, one tablespoonful of vinegar and two of salad oil, and one tablespoonful of very thick cream. Use a wooden spoon for the mixing, and do not make the sauce too liquid or it will ooze through the sandwiches.
Chicken Sandwiches, made with a little finely pounded chicken with a layer of watercress or lettuce and a little mayonnaise, are excellent.
Cucumber Sandwiches are always welcome in hot weather. Soak the slices of cucumber in some well-seasoned vinegar for two or three hours before using, turning it frequently. Cut the bread round each slice of cucumber with a small round pastry-cutter and garnish with parsley. A little dab of mayonnaise in each sandwich is a great improvement.
Shrimp Sandwiches are delicious. From a pint of shrimps, pick out a few of the largest with which to garnish your sandwiches, shell the remainder and allow them to get thoroughly hot over the fire (but not to boil) in a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, or two ounces of butter and two tablespoonfuls of thick cream, and a discreet seasoning of salt and pepper. Pound the mixture in a mortar until perfectly smooth, and then spread upon either white or brown bread-and-butter, and cut the sandwiches into rounds. A dariole or tiny pudding-mould with a crimped edge answers capitally for the purpose. Pile upon a doyley and garnish with the shrimps upon some fresh parsley.
Crab or lobster paste prepared in the same way but with the addition of a little mustard and vinegar, and no cream, makes excellent sandwiches.
Anchovy Sandwiches are made in the same way, using a good brand of anchovy paste instead of the shrimp mixture. If you have plenty of eggs at command, the hard-boiled yolks of two, pounded to a paste with two ounces of butter and a tablespoonful of anchovy paste, will make a superior sandwich.
Egg Sandwiches are filled with the same paste of pounded eggs, well seasoned, but without the anchovy; another ounce of butter or two tablespoonfuls of cream is an improvement in this case.
So much for sandwiches; the eight varieties I have mentioned will serve as a foundation from which clever housekeepers will devise numerous other kinds. Almost any scraps of shell-fish, game, or poultry, can be pounded and used as I have described, and if the seasoning is all that it should be, and the sandwiches are delicately made and served, they will always find some appreciative mortals to enjoy them!
And now to turn our attention to the cakes and biscuits, which I hope my fair readers will make with their own dainty hands, and thus ensure success, even if it be evolved from early failures.
Before passing on to the actual recipes, will they accept six general hints as to successful cake-making?