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Historical Sandwiches

liuzhou

By liuzhou
in Food Media & Arts

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted (edited)

uptodatesandwich00full_0007.jpg

Image in the Public Domain

 

I've been served ancient sandwiches more times than I care to think about. Don't mess about; make your own!

The book is in the Public Domain and is available here. Fascinating stuff.

 

Edited by liuzhou
changed link to one that is more direct (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

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Anna N

Anna N

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Posted

What a great find. I think what surprised me was how "modern" the ingredients seemed. Olive oil, canned sardines and anchovies. Wonder if the mayo was also jarred. Probably my time frame is skewed a bit. Thanks for posting this. 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

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liuzhou

liuzhou

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Posted (edited)
54 minutes ago, Anna N said:

What a great find. I think what surprised me was how "modern" the ingredients seemed. Olive oil, canned sardines and anchovies. Wonder if the mayo was also jarred. Probably my time frame is skewed a bit. Thanks for posting this. 

 

I don't know how modern those things are in the USA, but certainly, when I was a youngster in the UK, olive oil was only found in what we called chemist shops and, I believe, you call drug stores. For removing ear wax! (Of course, there is nothing modern about olive oil at all; it has been used for millennia.)

Canned sardines were around, but I don't know if the canning process today is what she means. I had never even heard of anchovies, canned or otherwise, until I was well into my 30s. No idea about mayo.

Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed as much as I did.
 

Public Domain Review is well worth following - some stuff is culinary; most is not. But always something interesting.

Edited by liuzhou (log)

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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Tri2Cook

Tri2Cook

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Posted
6 hours ago, Anna N said:

Olive oil, canned sardines and anchovies. Wonder if the mayo was also jarred.


Haven't looked at the book yet but if that's all for one sandwich, I'm out. :D

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

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Anna N

Anna N

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13 hours ago, Tri2Cook said:


Haven't looked at the book yet but if that's all for one sandwich, I'm out. :D

Nah.  But I was amazed that olive oil was called for in 1909 in North America. 

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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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chromedome

chromedome

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On 22/12/2016 at 11:59 AM, liuzhou said:

 

Public Domain Review is well worth following - some stuff is culinary; most is not. But always something interesting.

 

PD Review is one of my favorite time sinks. I can only afford to go there about once a month. 

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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liuzhou

liuzhou

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7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

What does box of sardines mean in English English?

 

 

The image that comes to my mind is the sort of box used by a wholesale fish market to sell sardines in bulk. It would contain several kilograms of fish. Something like this.

One of the recipes in the book calls for five boxes of sardines!

 

What does it mean in American English?

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

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7 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

What does it mean in American English?

 

My guess is tin 'boxes.'

Explained here in 1913.

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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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liuzhou

liuzhou

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3 minutes ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

 

My guess is tin 'boxes.'

Explained here in 1913.

 

Thanks.

 

What I would call "tins" or "cans".

It does say that a quarter box contains 10 fish, so 5 boxes is still one heck of a lot of sardine for a sandwich!

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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liuzhou

liuzhou

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2 hours ago, GlorifiedRice said:

 

 

There was a Japanese sandwich and an Oriental sandwich,,,,Neither of which had any Asian ingredients


I'm left wondering what there is in the Japanese sandwich which you think is not widely available or consumed in Japan. Whether they were in 1909, I don't know. I'm not quite that old.

"Oriental" is almost meaningless, so I can't comment on that.

I find Chinese food in America utterly weird and totally not Chinese. More than anything in that book.

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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IndyRob

IndyRob

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Back the in the day in America, perhaps around the time of Charlie Chan movies, Oriental meant far east (i.e. China, Japan, etc.).  For some reason (perhaps Charlie Chan) that came to be viewed as politically incorrect and Asia/Asian was substituted.  But that only muddied the picture as Asia (Afghanistan, Persia/Iran, etc) was expanded to include the far east (or the somewhat nearer west if you're in California).

 

That's not meant to be a definitive historical statement, but simply my observation of how the words seem to have evolved during my lifetime.

 

But anyway.... 


ORIENTAL SANDWICH 

Mix one cake of cream cheese with a little maple 
syrup, then add sliced maraschino cherries. Place be- 
tween thin slices of lightly buttered bread. Garnish 
with a spray of smilax and a cherry.

This doesn't vaguely sound asian or oriental.  Not even earthly, really.

 

And BTW, do not even think of doing the the drinking game I was going to suggest while reading this book - taking a shot whenever you read 'lightly buttered bread'.  You would surely die.

 

Wait, what the hell is 'smilax'?

Edited by IndyRob (log)
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Anna N

Anna N

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Smilax seems to cover a multitude of green and growing things. I still find anumber of the sandwiches inspiring.  Not necessarily new or unique but just perfectly workable. That does not include the one you quoted.:o

 

 

Edited by Anna N (log)

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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liuzhou

liuzhou

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1 hour ago, IndyRob said:

Wait, what the hell is 'smilax'?

 

Smilax is used in Chinese cooking, most notably in Beijing style pancakes (茯苓夹饼 - fúlíng jiābǐng) and in Guilinggao, a popular dessert.

 

It is a plant related to sarsaparilla.

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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GlorifiedRice

GlorifiedRice

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9 hours ago, liuzhou said:


I'm left wondering what there is in the Japanese sandwich which you think is not widely available or consumed in Japan. Whether they were in 1909, I don't know. I'm not quite that old.
 

 

Did they consume sandwiches in Japan in 1909?

 

BTW there are 2 Oriental sandwiches.

 

OT(to the quoted)

The hell is a dyspeptic sandwich?

Wawa Sizzli FTW!

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IndyRob

IndyRob

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17 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

There is the turtle looking at the smilax plant.

 

Of course it is.  Why on earth wouldn't it?

 

[Edit] Oh wait.  I just noticed that his eyes are on the side of his head.  But for his nose, he shouldn't even know it's there.

Edited by IndyRob (log)
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liuzhou

liuzhou

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3 hours ago, IndyRob said:

That's not meant to be a definitive historical statement, but simply my observation of how the words seem to have evolved during my lifetime.

 

The word originally had only an astronomical meaning relating to the eastern heavens (relative to Europe). Then is developed into a general term just meaning in the east (of a country). In that usage New York is oriental, relative to Los Angeles!

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) gives this as the current meaning:

Belonging to, found in, or characteristic of, the countries or regions lying to the east of the Mediterranean or of the ancient Roman empire; of, relating to, or characteristic of south-western Asia, or Asiatic countries generally; dealing or connected with the Orient, its culture or affairs; also, belonging to the east of Europe, or of Christendom (as the Oriental Empire, or Oriental Church); Eastern.

So, as I said, pretty meaningless. Especially when used to indicate any culinary tradition. Way too vague.

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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