<div class="rightalign"><i>Chapter<br/>Ten</i></div><h2>Appetizers, Crackers, Sandwiches, Savories,<br/> Snacks, Spreads and Toasts</h2>
<p>In America cheese got its start in country stores in our
cracker-barrel days when every man felt free to saunter in,
pick up the cheese knife and cut himself a wedge from the
big-bellied rattrap cheese standing under its glass bell or
wire mesh hood that kept the flies off but not the
free-lunchers. Cheese by itself being none too palatable, the
taster would saunter over to the cracker barrel, shoo the cat
off and help himself to the old-time crackers that can't be
beat today.</p>
<p><!-- Page 145 --><SPAN name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></SPAN> At that time Wisconsin still belonged to
the Indians and Vermont was our leading cheese state, with
its Sage and Cheddar and Vermont Country Store Crackers, as
Vrest Orton of Weston Vermont, calls them. When Orton heard
we were writing this book, he sent samples from the store
his father started in 1897 which is still going strong.
Together with the Vermont Good Old-fashioned Natural Cheese
and the Sage came a handy handmade Cracker Basket, all
wicker, ten crackers long and just one double cracker wide.
A snug little casket for those puffy, old-time, two-in-one
soda biscuits that have no salt to spoil the taste of the
accompanying cheese. Each does double duty because it's made
to split in the middle, so you can try one kind of cheese on
one half and another on t'other, or sandwich them
between.</p>
<p>Some Pied Piper took the country cheese and crackers to the
corner saloon and led a free-lunch procession that never
faltered till Prohibition came. The same old store cheese was
soon pepped up as saloon cheese with a saucer of caraway seeds,
bowls of pickles, peppers, pickled peppers and rye bread with
plenty of mustard, pretzels or cheese straws, smearcase and
schwarzbrot. Beer and cheese forever together, as in the
free-lunch ditty of that great day:</p>
<div class="poem">
<div class="stanza">
<span>I am an Irish hunter;<br/></span> <span>I am, I
ain't.<br/></span> <span>I do not hunt for
deer<br/></span> <span>But beer.<br/></span>
<span>Oh, Otto, wring the bar rag.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span>I do not hunt for fleas<br/></span> <span>But
cheese.<br/></span> <span>Oh, Adolph, bring the free
lunch.<br/></span></div>
</div>
<p>It was there and then that cheese came of age from coast to
coast. In every bar there was a choice of Swiss, Cottage,
Limburger—manly cheeses, walkie-talkie oldsters that
could sit up and beg, golden yellow, tangy mellow, always cut
in cubes. <!-- Page 146 --><SPAN name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></SPAN>Cheese takes the cube form as naturally as
eggs take the oval and honeycombs the hexagon.</p>
<p>On the more elegant handout buffets, besides the shapely
cubes, free Welsh Rabbit started at four every afternoon, to
lead the tired businessman in by the nose; or a smear of
Canadian Snappy out of a pure white porcelain pot in the classy
places, on a Bent's water biscuit.</p>
<div class="cats">
SANDWICHES AND SAVORY SNACKS</div>
<p>Next to nibbling cheese with crackers and appetizers, of
which there is no end in sight, cheese sandwiches help us
consume most of our country's enormous output of Brick, Cheddar
and Swiss. To attempt to classify and describe all of these
would be impossible, so we will content ourselves by picking a
few of the cold and hot, the plain and the fancy, the familiar
and the exotic. Let's use the alphabet to sum up the
situation.</p>
<p><br/>
<b>A Alpine Club Sandwich</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Spread toasts with mayonnaise and fill with a thick
slice of imported Emmentaler, well-mustarded and seasoned,
and the usual club-sandwich toppings of thin slices of
chicken or turkey, tomato, bacon and a lettuce leaf.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>B Boston Beany, Open-face</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Lightly butter a slice of Boston brown bread, cover it
generously with hot baked beans and a thick layer of
shredded Cheddar. Top with bacon and put under a slow
broiler until cheese melts and the bacon crisps.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>C Cheeseburgers</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Pat out some small seasoned hamburgers exceedingly thin
and, using them instead of slices of bread, sandwich in a
nice <!-- Page 147 --><SPAN name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></SPAN>slice of American Cheddar well covered
with mustard. Crimp edges of the hamburgers all around
to hold in the cheese when it melts and begins to run.
Toast under a brisk boiler and serve on soft, toasted
sandwich buns.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>D Deviled Rye</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Butter flat Swedish rye bread and heat quickly in hot
oven. Cool until crisp again. Then spread thickly with
cream cheese, bedeviled with catsup, paprika or
pimiento.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>E Egg, Open-faced</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Sauté minced small onion and small green pepper
in 2 tablespoons of butter and make a sauce by cooking with
a cup of canned tomatoes. Season and reduce to about half.
Fry 4 eggs and put one in the center of each of 4 pieces of
hot toast spread with the red sauce. Sprinkle each
generously with grated Cheddar, broil until melted and
serve with crisp bacon.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>F French-fried Swiss</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Simply make a sandwich with a noble slice of imported
Gruyère, soak it in beaten egg and milk and fry
slowly till cheese melts and the sandwich is nicely
browned. This is a specialty of Franche-Comté.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>G Grilled Chicken-Ham-Cheddar</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Cut crusts from 2 slices of white bread and butter them
on both sides. Make a sandwich of these with 1 slice cooked
chicken, ½ slice sharp Cheddar cheese, and a
sprinkling of minced ham. Fasten tight with toothpicks, cut
in half and dip thoroughly in a mixture of egg and milk.
Grill golden on both sides and serve with lengthwise slices
of dill pickle.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<!-- Page 148 --><SPAN name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></SPAN> <b>H He-man Sandwich,
Open-faced</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Butter a thick slice of dark rye bread, cover with a
layer of mashed cold baked beans and a slice of ham, then
one of Swiss cheese and a wheel of Bermuda onion topped
with mustard and a sowing of capers.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>I International Sandwich</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Split English muffins and toast on the hard outsides,
cover soft, untoasted insides with Swiss cheese, spread
lightly with mustard, top that with a wheel of Bermuda
onion and 1 or 2 slices of Italian-type tomato. Season with
cayenne and salt, dot with butter, cover with Brazil nuts
and brown under the broiler.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>J Jurassiennes, or Croûtes
Comtoises</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Soak slices of stale buns in milk, cover with a mixture
of onion browned in chopped lean bacon and mixed with
grated Gruyère. Simmer until cheese melts, and
serve.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>K Kümmelkäse</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>If you like caraway flavor this is your sandwich: On
well-buttered but lightly mustarded rye, lay a thickish
slab of Milwaukee Kümmelkäse, which translates
caraway cheese. For good measure sprinkle caraway seeds on
top, or serve them in a saucer on the side. Then dash on a
splash of kümmel, the caraway liqueur that's best when
imported.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>L Limburger Onion or Limburger Catsup</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Marinate slices of Bermuda onion in a peppery French
dressing for ½ hour. Then butter slices of rye,
spread well with soft Limburger, top with onion and you
will have something super-duper—if you like
Limburger. <!-- Page 149 --><SPAN name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></SPAN></p>
<p>When catsup is substituted for marinated onion the
sandwich has quite another character and flavor, so true
Limburger addicts make one of each and take alternate bites
for the thrill of contrast.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>M Meringue, Open-faced</b> (from the Browns'
<i>10,000 Snacks</i>)</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Allow 1 egg and 4 tablespoons of grated cheese to 1
slice of bread. Toast bread on one side only, spread butter
on untoasted side, put 2 tablespoons grated cheese over
butter, and the yolk of an egg in the center. Beat egg
white stiff with a few grains of salt and pile lightly on
top. Sprinkle the other 2 tablespoons of grated cheese over
that and bake in moderate oven until the egg white is firm
and the cheese has melted to a golden-brown.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>N Neufchâtel and Honey</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>We know no sandwich more ethereal than one made with
thin, decrusted, white bread, spread with sweet butter,
then with Neufchâtel topped with some fine
honey—Mount Hymettus, if possible.</p>
<p>Any creamy Petit Suisse will do as well as the
Neufchâtel, but nothing will take the place of the
honey to make this heavenly sandwich that must have been
the original ambrosia.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>O Oskar's Ham-Cam</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Oskar Davidsen of Copenhagen, whose five-foot menu lists
186 superb sandwiches and snacks, each with a character all
its own, perfected the Ham-Cam base for a flock of fancy
ham sandwiches, open-faced on rye or white, soft or crisp,
sweet or sour, almost any one-way slice you desire. He uses
as many contrasting kinds of bread as possible, and his
butter varies from salt to fresh and whipped. The Ham-Cam
base involves "a juicy, tender slice of freshly boiled,
mild-cured ham" with imported Camembert spread on the ham
as thick as velvet.</p>
<p><!-- Page 150 --><SPAN name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></SPAN> The Ham-Cam is built up with such
splendors as "goose liver paste and Madeira wine jelly,"
"fried calves' kidney and <i>rémoulade</i>,"
"Bombay curry salad," "bird's liver and fried egg," "a
slice of red roast beef" and more of that red Madeira
jelly, with anything else you say, just so long as it
does credit to Camembert on ham.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>P Pickled Camembert</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Butter a thin slice of rye or pumpernickel and spread
with ripe imported Camembert, when in season (which isn't
summer). Make a mixture of sweet, sour and dill pickles,
finely chopped, and spread it on. Top this with a thin
slice of white bread for pleasing contrast with the
black.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>Q Queijo da Serra Sandwich</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>On generous rounds of French "flute" or other crunchy,
crusty white bread place thick portions of any good
Portuguese cheese made of sheep's milk "in the mountains."
This last translates back into Queijo da Serra, the
fattest, finest cheese in the world—on a par with
fine Greek Feta. Bead the open-faced creamy cheese lightly
with imported capers, and you'll say it's scrumptious.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>R Roquefort Nut</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Butter hot toast and cover with a thickish slice of
genuine Roquefort cheese. Sprinkle thickly with genuine
Hungarian paprika. Put in moderate oven for about 6
minutes. Finish it off with chopped pine nuts, almonds, or
a mixture thereof.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>S Smoky Sandwich and Sturgeon-smoked
Sandwich</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Skin some juicy little, jolly little sprats, lay on thin
rye, or a slice of miniature-loaf rye studded with caraway,
spread with sweet butter and cover with a slice of smoked
cheese.</p>
<p><!-- Page 151 --><SPAN name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></SPAN> Hickory is preferred for most of the
smoking in America. In New York the best smoked cheese,
whether from Canada or nearer home, is usually cured in
the same room with sturgeon. Since this king of smoked
fish imparts some of its regal savor to the Cheddar,
there is a natural affinity peculiarly suited to
sandwiching as above.</p>
<p>Smoked salmon, eel, whitefish or any other, is also good
with cheese smoked with hickory or anything with a
salubrious savor, while a sandwich of smoked turkey with
smoked cheese is out of this world. We accompany it with a
cup of smoky Lapsang Soochong China tea.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>T Tangy Sandwich</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>On buttered rye spread cream cheese, and on this bed lay
thinly sliced dried beef. In place of mustard dot the beef
with horseradish and pearl onions or those reliable old
chopped chives. And by the way, if you must use mustard on
every cheese sandwich, try different kinds for a change:
sharp English freshly mixed by your own hand out of the tin
of powder, or Dijon for a French touch.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>U Unusual Sandwich—of Flowers, Hay and
Clover</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>On a sweet-buttered slice of French white bread lay a
layer of equally sweet English Flower cheese (made with
petals of rose, marigold, violet, etc.) and top that with
French Fromage de foin. This French hay cheese gets its
name from being ripened on hay and holds its new-mown
scent. Sprinkle on a few imported capers (the smaller they
are, the better), with a little of the luscious juice, and
dust lightly with Sapsago.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>V Vegetarian Sandwich</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Roll your own of alternate leaves of lettuce, slices of
store cheese, avocados, cream cheese sprinkled heavily with
chopped <!-- Page 152 --><SPAN name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></SPAN>chives, and anything else in the
Vegetable or Caseous Kingdoms that suits your fancy.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>W Witch's Sandwich</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Butter 2 slices of sandwich bread, cover one with a thin
slice of imported Emmentaler, dash with cayenne and a drop
or two of tabasco. Slap on a sizzling hot slice of grilled
ham and press it together with the cheese between the two
bread slices, put in a hot oven and serve piping hot with a
handful of "moonstones"—those outsize pearl
onions.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>X Xochomilco Sandwich</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>In spite of the "milco" in Xochomilco, there isn't a
drop to be had that's native to the festive, floating
gardens near Mexico City. For there, instead of the cow, a
sort of century plant gives milky white <i>pulque</i>, the
fermented juice of this cactuslike desert plant. With this
goes a vegetable cheese curded by its own vegetable rennet.
It's called tuna cheese, made from the milky juice of the
prickly pear that grows on yet another cactuslike plant of
the dry lands. This tuna cheese sometimes teams up in arid
lands with the juicy thick cactus leaf sliced into a
tortilla sandwich. The milky <i>pulque</i> of Xochomilco
goes as well with it as beer with a Swiss cheese
sandwich.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>Y Yolk Picnic Sandwich</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Hard-cooked egg yolk worked into a yellow paste with
cream cheese, mustard, olive oil, lemon juice, celery salt
and a touch of tabasco, spread on thick slices of whole
wheat bread.</p>
</div>
<p><br/>
<b>Z Zebra</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Take a tip from Oskar over in Copenhagen and design your
own Zebra sandwich as decoratively as one of those
oft-photoed <!-- Page 153 --><SPAN name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></SPAN>skins in El Morocco. Just alternate
stripes of black bread with various white cheeses in
between, to follow, the black and white zebra
pattern.</p>
</div>
<p>For good measure we will toss in a couple of toasted cheese
sandwiches.</p>
<p><ANTIMG src="images/pointer.gif" width="58" height="41" alt="picture: pointer" /> <b>Toasted Cheese
Sandwich</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>Butter both sides of 2 thick slices of white bread and
sandwich between them a seasoned mixture of shredded sharp
cheese, egg yolk, mustard and chopped chives, together with
stiffly beaten egg white folded in last to make a light
filling. Fry the buttered sandwich in more butter until
well melted and nicely gilded.</p>
</div>
<p>This toasted cheeser is so good it's positively sinful. The
French, who outdo us in both cooking and sin, make one of their
own in the form of fried fingers of stale bread doused in an
'arf and 'arf Welsh Rabbit and Fondue melting of
Gruyère, that serves as a liaison to further sandwich
the two.</p>
<p>Garlic is often used in place of chopped chives, and in
contrast to this wild one there's a mild one made of Dutch
cream cheese by the equally Dutch Pennsylvanians.</p>
<p>England, of course, together with Wales, holds all-time
honors with such celebrated regional "toasting cheeses" as
Devonshire and Dunlop. Even British Newfoundland is known for
its simple version, that's quite as pleasing as its rich Prince
Edward Island Oyster Stew.</p>
<p><ANTIMG src="images/pointer.gif" width="58" height="41" alt="picture: pointer" /> <b>Newfoundland Toasted Cheese
Sandwich</b></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>1 pound grated Cheddar<br/>
1 egg, well beaten<br/>
½ cup milk<br/>
1 tablespoon butter</p>
<p>Heat together and pour over well-buttered toast.</p>
</div>
<p> </p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<p><!-- Page 154 --><SPAN name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></SPAN> </p>
<p> </p>
<div><ANTIMG src="images/154.gif" width-obs="391" height-obs="390" alt="Illustration" /></div>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
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