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Vegetarian Cookery

A set of savoury sandwich recipes with mustard and cress, egg, curry-flavoured egg, and mushroom fillings, served on thin bread and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Payne, A. G. (Arthur Gay), 1840-1894 · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Vegetarian Cookery

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sandwich fillings

  1. For mustard and cress sandwiches, pepper and salt the bread and butter first.

  2. Place well-washed and dried mustard and cress between two slices of bread and butter.

  3. Cut hard-boiled eggs into very thin slices.

  4. Season the egg slices with pepper and salt.

  5. Place the egg slices between two slices of thin bread and butter.

  6. For Indian sandwiches, season the egg slices with a little curry-powder.

  7. Peel a pint of fresh button mushrooms.

  8. Throw the mushrooms into lemon-juice and water to preserve their colour.

  9. Alternatively, chop the contents of a tin of mushrooms and stew them gently in a frying-pan with a little butter, pepper, salt, a pinch of thyme, and the juice of a whole lemon to every pint.

  10. When tender, rub the mixture through a wire sieve while the butter is warm and the mixture moist.

  11. Add a teaspoonful of finely chopped blanched parsley.

  12. Spread the mixture while still warm on a thin slice of bread.

  13. Cover it with another thin slice of bread and press the two slices together.

Cut and plate

  1. Trim the edges.

  2. Cut the sandwiches into triangles or squares and pile them in a silver dish.

  3. Pile the sandwiches in the centre of a silver dish.

  4. Pile the sandwiches on a silver dish and sprinkle loose mustard and cress round the base.

  5. Place a few ripe red tomatoes round the base on bright green parsley.

  6. Place plenty of fresh green parsley round the base of the dish.

  7. Place hard-boiled eggs, cut in halves, on the parsley.

  8. Sprinkle each half-egg with curry-powder if halves are placed round the base.

Chill and serve

  1. Allow the mixture to get quite cold so the butter sets and the sandwiches become firm.

  2. Place the dish in an ice-chest for an hour before it is eaten.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

481Calories
16 gProtein
2 gFat
100 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Mushroom1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Payne, A. G. (Arthur Gay), 1840-1894. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Mushroom + thymetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs (in the method)
Hard-boiled eggs form the filling, giving body and a rich, savoury texture.
Button mushrooms
Form the main body of the mushroom filling, adding moisture and earthy flavour.
Butter
Binds the mushroom filling and, once chilled, sets it so the sandwiches firm up.
Bread
Provides the structure that holds each sandwich together.
Mustard and cress (in the method)
Adds a fresh, peppery flavour and crisp texture to the filling.

The step that matters

Chilling the sandwiches. Butter firms as it cools, so the mushroom filling only sets and holds its shape after the sandwiches are fully cold. Cutting or serving them too early can make the filling squash out.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, mushroom, thyme, pepper):

  1. Marjoramfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Sagefits about as well
  4. Rosemaryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, mushroom, thyme, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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