Let There Be Ham and Cheese on Earth
December 20, 2016 2:26 PM Subscribe
I'm hoping someone here will be able to help me find a lost recipe from my early-80s childhood. It consisted of deviled ham, Kraft Old English cheese, poppy seeds and mustard (plus some other things I am definitely forgetting) spread between soft rolls and baked in the oven until hot. The recipe was likely one my mother clipped from a Woman's Day or Ladies' Home Journal.
Pinterest is full of recipes for ham and Swiss "party rolls" or sliders made with deli ham, sliced Swiss, and often those Hawaiian rolls. The recipe I seek is *not* like that. It was very much a savory mixture/spread, not slices of ham. I've Googled until my eyes cross but no luck. The recipe was a particular favorite of my younger brother, who is coming over for Christmas. Hoping maybe there's a MeFite of similar vintage who remembers this recipe!
Pinterest is full of recipes for ham and Swiss "party rolls" or sliders made with deli ham, sliced Swiss, and often those Hawaiian rolls. The recipe I seek is *not* like that. It was very much a savory mixture/spread, not slices of ham. I've Googled until my eyes cross but no luck. The recipe was a particular favorite of my younger brother, who is coming over for Christmas. Hoping maybe there's a MeFite of similar vintage who remembers this recipe!
Response by poster: No, those are the kind with sliced ham and sliced cheese. The ones I'm looking for get their cheese from jarred Old English cheese (which is essentially a spread) and the ham is Underwood deviled canned ham.
posted by little mouth at 2:50 PM on December 20, 2016
posted by little mouth at 2:50 PM on December 20, 2016
(sorry - I thought that the mustard/poppy mixture might have been enough to be helpful!)
posted by handful of rain at 2:53 PM on December 20, 2016
posted by handful of rain at 2:53 PM on December 20, 2016
How was the ham added to the sandwich? Ground? Cubed? Pulled? I get that it's a mixture of several ingredients, but what was the shape/consistency of the ham part?
posted by Sara C. at 2:54 PM on December 20, 2016
posted by Sara C. at 2:54 PM on December 20, 2016
I'm sure you checked through the recipes on the Deviled Ham page, but I wonder if you wrote the company they could find it for you?
posted by BlueHorse at 3:10 PM on December 20, 2016
posted by BlueHorse at 3:10 PM on December 20, 2016
We make this in our house. In fact, it's on the menu for Christmas week. We use Swiss cheese, and we call them Hot Ham and Cheese Sandwiches.
For 6 sandwiches, melt 1/2 cup butter and mix it with 1/2 T minced dried onion (or fresh chopped reeeeally tiny), 2 T Dijon mustard and 1 T poppy seeds. Place in fridge until a spreadable consistency.
Split 6 long hardy rolls in half. (I've found that not-too-crusty baguette works pretty well too.) Layer some ham slices on the bottom half of the sandwich, and some Swiss on top of that. Spread 2 T of butter sauce on the top half of the bread. Wrap each sandwich tightly in foil and bake at 350 F for 20-25 min. (The written recipe I have has you refrigerate the sandwiches for 2 hours before baking, but I've never done that.)
posted by Liesl at 3:12 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]
For 6 sandwiches, melt 1/2 cup butter and mix it with 1/2 T minced dried onion (or fresh chopped reeeeally tiny), 2 T Dijon mustard and 1 T poppy seeds. Place in fridge until a spreadable consistency.
Split 6 long hardy rolls in half. (I've found that not-too-crusty baguette works pretty well too.) Layer some ham slices on the bottom half of the sandwich, and some Swiss on top of that. Spread 2 T of butter sauce on the top half of the bread. Wrap each sandwich tightly in foil and bake at 350 F for 20-25 min. (The written recipe I have has you refrigerate the sandwiches for 2 hours before baking, but I've never done that.)
posted by Liesl at 3:12 PM on December 20, 2016 [2 favorites]
Aagh, not what you were looking for. I saw the poppy seeds and jumped to conclusions. Anyway, I bet you could use the butter sauce I gave and sub your own ham product and cheese.
posted by Liesl at 3:15 PM on December 20, 2016
posted by Liesl at 3:15 PM on December 20, 2016
Maybe this Underwood Deviled Ham Crescent Roll recipe? It's missing a few ingredients that you mention, and the vintage is suspect, but the method is the same as shrimp paste roll ups my mom made back in the day.
posted by stellaluna at 7:05 PM on December 20, 2016
posted by stellaluna at 7:05 PM on December 20, 2016
Hmm...there's also this recipe, for "Deviled Puffs" (scroll down) but that includes sour creaam...?
posted by stellaluna at 7:07 PM on December 20, 2016
posted by stellaluna at 7:07 PM on December 20, 2016
Best answer: At this point, I would do your best to recreate it. None of those Women's Day-type recipes, using premade, as-advertised ingredients like Deviled Ham (god I love that stuff) or Old English cheese relied on much other than the flavor of said ingredients. Usually, things like poppyseed were for visual and textural interest. Depending on your time frame, onion and garlic were dried and powder, respectively.
So start somewhere like here, and possibly add the Worcestershire sauce found in a few more of the recipes, like here.
Any of the recieps I see on cooks.com or allrecipes that seem to conform in some way to your original (whether they have sliced ham or not; they have homemade chunked ham or not), some kind of prepared mustard, many use the Worcestershire, and all use poppy a kind of cheese. My guess is the recipe your mom used was an "easier version" of this classic party food, which in itself looks like an adapted Croque Monsieur. Given that, lean toward dry mustard or dijon.
Since you know the poppy part, the cheese part, the ham part, make a few with mustard, a few with mustard and Worcestershire.
posted by oflinkey at 9:39 AM on December 21, 2016
So start somewhere like here, and possibly add the Worcestershire sauce found in a few more of the recipes, like here.
Any of the recieps I see on cooks.com or allrecipes that seem to conform in some way to your original (whether they have sliced ham or not; they have homemade chunked ham or not), some kind of prepared mustard, many use the Worcestershire, and all use poppy a kind of cheese. My guess is the recipe your mom used was an "easier version" of this classic party food, which in itself looks like an adapted Croque Monsieur. Given that, lean toward dry mustard or dijon.
Since you know the poppy part, the cheese part, the ham part, make a few with mustard, a few with mustard and Worcestershire.
posted by oflinkey at 9:39 AM on December 21, 2016
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http://allrecipes.com/recipe/216756/baked-ham-and-cheese-party-sandwiches/
posted by handful of rain at 2:45 PM on December 20, 2016