Canapes and peek-a-boo sandwiches were popular a hundred years ago. Recipes for them, some of which seem very unusual today, are often found in old cookbooks.
A few weeks ago I posted a recipe for Mrs. Sigmund Weis’ Star Canapes which contained capers, hard-boiled egg yolk and white, chopped pickles and pimento, and anchovies on star shaped pieces of bread. Shortly after I did that post I was at a party and friends had lots of comments and questions. “That recipe you posted was strange.” “How do you pronounce “canape”? Did I say it right?” “Why was she called Mrs. Sigmund Weis? Didn’t she have a first name?”
This blog is always slightly quirky, but I came to the conclusion that the Star Canape post was quirkier than usual. Then I recently started working on my December posts and flipped through the December, 1924 issue of Ladies Home Journal. Amazingly, there was an entire article on canapes and peek-a-boo sandwiches. Apparently canapes and peek-a-boo sandwiches were the trendy food to serve at holiday parties a hundred years ago.
In case you wondered, canapes are a small piece of bread (sometimes toasted) or a cracker with a topping. They are a type of hors d’oeuvre. According to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, canape is pronounced “kænəˌpeɪ”, and if you struggle with that you can hear someone actually say the word on the Oxford site.
According to the 1924 Ladies Home Journal article, peek-a-boo sandwiches are a little larger than canapes and the bread is not toasted. Two slices of bread (which often is in a round shape) are used to make each sandwich. The bread slices are buttered. A filling is put on the bottom slice. Then a peephole is cut out of the top slice using a small cookie cutter. A garnish, which the old magazine article calls a “tempting morsal,” is put in the hole.
Here are some recipes for canapes and peek-a-boo sandwiches in the hundred-year-old issue of Ladies Home Journal:
Canapes
Peek-a-Boo Sandwiches
(The photo at the top of the post is my interpretation of the Salad Peek-a-Boo recipe.)
Being British although they originated in France I am familiar with the word Canape…my mother used to make them for parties 🙂
I’m not quite sure why they’ve become less popular over the years. I’m guessing that we’ve shifted to more informal entertaining and now serve simpler foods.
You could be correct Sheryl I’m not sure although they are still served at weddings and other events in the UK 🙂
As a child, I heard the term canape frequently. My mother essentially used it as a synonym for appetizer.
Similarly to your experiences, I think that canape is a term that was more commonly used years ago.
I think these became so popular because everyone was celebrating the joy of sliced bread. 😀
I never thought about it until I read your comment, but it makes a lot of sense that canapes and peek-a-boo sandwiches would become more popular when sliced bread became readily available.
Canapes are still popular here in the UK … but I’d never come across Peek-a-boo sandwiches.
In the U.S. I think that the more general term “hors d’oeuvre” is more commonly used today. At meetings and conferences, small filled puff pastries are often served. Not sure if they would be considered a canape.
Ah. Here hors d’oeuvre are the first part of a formal meal. When you’re standing around beforehand with a glass in your hand, someone may drift round with a plateful of bite-sized canapes. Just remember that when King Charles invites you round!
Good to know in case I get an invitation. 🙂 Here the first part of a formal meal would be an appetizer, and an hors d’oeurve is served when you are standing around.
I ran across this yesterday about the Weis family stores. See if you can open it.
tps://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com
Thanks for sharing. Yes, I was able to find it. I went to the site and then searched on “Weis.” Its’ a really good article with lots of information and wonderful pictures. It really makes the history of the Weis Markets come alive. I think that the following link will take people directly to the Weis post:
Valley Girl Views: The First Weis Store – Sunbury Or Selinsgrove?
Great. My IT team was not available. 🙂
The peanut butter peek-a-boo sounds quite unique!
That one definitely sounds like an adventure to make. I guess that it would be too easy to just spread peanut butter on the bread. And, steaming raisins sounds like a process. 🙂
Peek-a-boo sandwiches are new to us; your version looks great!
Thanks! I had fun making my version. Peek-a-boo sandwiches were new to me, too until the saw the Ladies Home Journal article.
And now we know!!!! pretty little peek a boo!
🙂
I think the peek-a-boo sandwich is rather fetching, if also very white!
If you think this looks white, you should have seen what the sandwiches looked like on a white plate. I tried that first, and then decided that I definitely needed to use a colored plate.
That made me chuckle! Good call, Sheryl!
Quite quirky indeed, and quite time consuming! I wonder how long it takes for these to disintegrate, as the bread is no toasted. The sweet options are quite weird. I somehow doubt I’d start steaming raisins any time soon! 🙂
It doesn’t take too long to make just a few, but it would be time consuming to make enough for a party. There are definitely are other lovely hors d’oeuvres that could be made more easily and efficiently. I couldn’t figure out why the recipe author said to steam the raisins. Raisins years ago were very dry and probably needed to be plumped, but it seems like it would have been easier to just soak them.
It makes sense that the raisins back then were drier, but yes, soaking should probably suffice!
geez, who has time for this sort of dainty these days?
I think that some people had too much time on their hands. 🙂
Your peekaboo sandwiches are lovely.
Thank you! I had fun making them.
What an interesting idea that has fallen completely out of fashion. I did enjoy your picture of the peek-a-boo sandwich. Very cute!
It’s nice to hear that you liked the picture. Food fads change over the years. It’s fascinating how something that clearly was designed to make a nice presentation at an event is so out of style now.