What Are Canapes and Peek-a-Boo Sandwiches?

Salad Peek-a-Boo Sandwiches on plate 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

Canape recipes — Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1924)

Peek-a-Boo Sandwiches

Peek-a-boo sandwich recipes — Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1924)

(The photo at the top of the post is my interpretation of the Salad Peek-a-Boo recipe.)

1924 Directions for Trussing a Fowl

There are so many things to think about when planning a Thanksgiving dinner. Worried that your turkey won’t keep its shape or roast evenly? Maybe you should use string to truss it to pull the bird into a more compact shape that will help ensure that it roasts evenly. Here are the directions in a hundred-year-old cookbook.

1924 Thanksgiving Menus

I’m currently planning my Thanksgiving menu, and trying to decide if I want to pull in some hundred-year-old recipes. The Thanksgiving menus in the November, 1924 issue of American Cookery give lots of options. Cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie – yes. Brussels sprouts, stuffed olives – maybe; Roast squabs with peanut stuffing, Roquefort cheese – no. By the way, what are bent crackers?

Hundred-Year-Old Directions for Where to Put Knife and Fork When Finished Eating

plate, knife, and fork

I’ve never given much thought as to what I should do with my knife and fork when I finish eating a meal. I typically just put the knife across the top of my plate and let the fork tines lay somewhere on my plate. But apparently a hundred years ago people worried about proper etiquette. Here’s what it said in a 1924 magazine:

What to Do with the Knife and Fork at the Close of Dinner

At the close of dinner, or at the close of a course, the knife and fork should be laid side by side, fork with the tines up, knife with the sharp edge nearest the fork, and a little to the right side of the dinner plate, and at right angles to the edge of the table. This should be the signal that the guest has finished the meal, or the course, and is ready to have his plate removed.

American Cookery (November, 1924)

I decided to see what this looked like, and tried to follow the directions (though used a clean plate rather than one with food scraps after I’d eaten). It looks really strange to me. And, why aren’t there any directions for what to do with the spoon?

Cranberry-Raisin Roll

cranberry raisin roll

Cranberries are a Fall favorite, so when I saw a recipe for Cranberry-Raisin Roll in a hundred-year-old cookbook I decided to give it a try.

Chopped cranberries and raisins were rolled into a baking powder dough and then steamed, which results in the roll having a different texture than if it had been baked. It is served with lemon sauce. The Cranberry-Raisin Roll was delightful and almost seemed elegant. It was soft, but slightly chewy, with the lovely tartness of cranberries that were slighted moderated by the sweetness of the raisins.

Slice of Cranberry-Raisin Roll

Cranberry-Raisin Roll in Steamer

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Cranberry-Raisin Roll — Source: Modern Priscilla Cook Book (1924)

The dough seemed too thick when I rolled it to a thickness of 1/2 inch, so I rolled it a little more until it was about 1/4-inch thick.

And, here is the recipe for Lemon Sauce:

I didn’t stir in boiling water when I made the Lemon Sauce. It didn’t seem necessary since the mixture was heated on the stove. I just used room temperature water.

Cranberry Raisin Roll in Steamer

Here are the recipes updated for modern cooks:

Cranberry Raisin Roll

Servings: 6 - 8
Time: 2 hours
Difficulty: moderate
Print

1 cup cranberries

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

2 tablespoons butter

3/4 – 1 cup milk

Chop cranberries and raisins. (A blender or food processor works well to chop them.) Then put in a bowl and stir in the sugar. Set aside.

Put baking powder, sugar, salt, flour, and butter in a bowl. Add 3/4 cup milk, and mix using a fork until dough starts to cling together. If it is too dry, add additional milk. Turn onto a flour-prepared surface, and roll dough into an approximate 11-inch X 18-inch rectangle that is 1/4 inch thick. Evenly spread the cranberry and raisin mixture on the rolled dough to within 1/2 inch of the edges. Start at one of the narrower sides and roll, then put in a steamer over quickly boiling water and cover. Steam for 1 1/2 hours. Remove from steamer and serve with Lemon Sauce.

Lemon Sauce

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon corn starch

dash salt

1 cup water

2 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Mix the sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a saucepan. Stir in the water, and heat using medium heat until the mixture boils. Reduce heat and simmer until the mixture thickens. Stir in the butter, lemon juice, grated lemon rind, and nutmeg. Serve hot.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

1924 Halloween Dinner Menu

Need some ideas for a Halloween dinner? Look no further than the October, 1924 issue of American Cookery magazine. The menu calls for serving 16 foods plus coffee. Whew, what a lot of food! That said, I’m off to a good start making the foods on the menu:

Stuffed Celery

Witches’ Layer Cake

If this isn’t enough, you could also serve an additional dessert option that I made years ago back when I was posting my grandmother’s diary entries:

Ice Cream Served in Orange Jack-o’-Lantern Shells

And, you could make these crafts to decorate for the dinner:

Halloween Bogeyman

Shrunken Apple-Head Witch

1924 List of Best Apples for Cooking, Dessert, and Cider

List of Apple Varieties — Source: Canadian Grown Apples: Delight in Every Bite (1924)

Many popular apple varieties today did not exist a hundred years ago; and some popular varieties a hundred years ago are seldom seen today. Both now and then, there were lists of which apple varieties were best for different uses. Today lists often refer to apples for eating, and cooking or baking. A 1924 list refers to apples for cooking, dessert apples, and cider apples. Were dessert apples ones that were particularly good to eat raw?