Cream the butter, using a small wooden spoon for the purpose, and then it can be spread upon the most delicate bread without crumbling.
Anything appropriately eaten with the _covering_ may be used for the _filling_ of a sandwich. In meats, salted meat takes the lead in popular favor; when sliced the meat should be cut across the grain and as thin as possible, and several bits should be used in each sandwich, unless a very small, æsthetic sandwich be in order. Tongue and corned beef, whether they be used in slices or finely chopped, should be cooked until they are very tender. When corned beef or ham is chopped for a filling, the sandwich is much improved by a dash of mustard; Worcestershire or horseradish sauce improves a filling of roast beef or boiled tongue; while chopped capers, tomato sauce, catsup or a cold mint sauce is appropriate in sandwiches made of lamb; celery salt, when the filling is of chicken or veal, and lemon juice, when the principal ingredient is fish, are _en rapport_.
The flavor of a few drops of onion juice is relished by many in any kind of fish or meat sandwich, while others would prefer a few grains of fine-chopped parsley.
When salad sandwiches are to be prepared, chop the meat or fish very fine and mix it with the salad dressing. Celery, cabbage, cress, cucumbers, tomatoes or olives may be chopped and added to the meat with the dressing. When lettuce is used, the leaf is served whole, the edges just appearing outside the bread. Any one of these vegetables, combined with a salad dressing, makes a delicious sandwich without meat or fish. When desired, other well-prepared sauces may be used in the place of salad dressings. Fillings of uncooked fruit may be used; but, in the case of dried fruits, it is preferable to stew until tender, after the fruit has been finely chopped. Pineapple, lemon or orange juice may be added at pleasure. Sandwiches prepared from entire-wheat bread, with fig or date fillings, are particularly wholesome for the children's luncheon basket.
When a particularly æsthetic sandwich is desired, wrap the butter that is to be used in spreading the bread in a napkin, and put it over night in a jar, on a bed of violets or rose petals; strew more flowers over the top and cover the jar tightly. If meat or fish is to be used as the basis of the sandwich, substitute nasturtium leaves and blossoms, or sprigs of mignonette, for the former flowers.