Heroic Sandwiches.

Brisbane is under water, and as my own home is only a couple of hundred metres from the river, I am waiting out the floods at my son’s home along with several other flood refugees. Seventy-five percent of the state of Queensland (an area about the size of Britain and Europe) is in the grip of the worst natural disaster in its history, and I am too pre-occupied to write anything lengthy.

We have been glued to the television all day, watching in horror scenes of utter devastation, enormous tragedy, and great heroism. Thankfully, there seems to have been very little in the way of looting reported so far. It is expected that 16,000 people will spend the night in the evacuation centres set up in the city, as the greatest flood peak is expected in the early hours of the morning.

In the background of the television scenes of the evacuation centres, working quietly away, were the sandwich makers. This post is dedicated to those essential members of the disaster teams.

I give you a couple of recipes chosen at random from One hundred &one sandwiches, published in about 1906.

Tourist.
Rub yolks of hard-boiled eggs through fine strainer; mix with creamed butter. Add sardines, skinned, boned, and mashed to a paste. Season with lemon-juice and minced olives.

Celery.
Take a half-cupful of white celery cut fine and add a quarter of a cupful of pecan or walnut meats chopped fine. Mix with one and one-half tablespoonfuls of mayonnaise dressing and season with salt and cayenne. Spread between water wafers.