Tea sandwich

A tea sandwich (also referred to as finger sandwich) is a small prepared sandwich meant to be eaten at afternoon teatime to stave off hunger until the main meal.

History
Tea sandwiches became popular when tea parties were a common afternoon entertainment for the well-off. Recipes for tea sandwiches appeared in Mrs. Hill's New Cook Book (1867).

Ingredients, preparation, and serving
The tea sandwich may take a number of different forms, but they typically are sized to be easy to handle and capable of being eaten in two or three bites. Shapes may be long and narrow, triangular, round, or a decorative shape created with a cookie cutter.

The bread is traditionally a soft white bread, thinly sliced, and buttered. The bread crust is cut away cleanly from the sandwich after the sandwich has been prepared but before serving. Modern bread variations might include wheat, pumpernickel, sour dough or rye bread. The bread used for preparing finger sandwiches is sometimes referred to as sandwich bread.

Fillings are light, and are "dainty" or "delicate" in proportion to the amount of bread. Spreads might include butter, cream cheese or mayonnaise mixtures, and the sandwiches often feature fresh vegetables such as radishes, olives, cucumber, asparagus, or watercress. The cucumber tea sandwich in particular is considered the quintessential tea sandwich. A cucumber sandwich made with Benedictine is a classic in Kentucky, US.

Other popular tea sandwich fillings include tomatoes, pimento cheese, ham with mustard, smoked salmon with cream cheese, fruit jam, curried chicken, fish paste, and egg salad.