Traditional Cucumber Sandwiches for Five O'Clock Tea from The Castle Hotel in Windsor

When working for Petrokazakhstan, I used to frequently stay at the Castle Hotel in Windsor, near the company headquarters and practically across the street from Windsor Castle. A very traditional, cozy English establishment, they of course served Five O'clock Tea with, among other things, traditional cucumber finger-sandwiches.

Traditional English cucumber sandwiches consist of paper-thin slices of cucumber placed between two thin slices of soft, crustless, lightly buttered, white toast bread. The thinness of the bread and of the cucumber slices is a matter of pride. Daylight should pass through the bread slices, and a newspaper-column heading should be legible through the cucumber slices. The peel of the cucumber is either removed or scored lengthwise with a fork before the cucumber is sliced, and the slices are dried gently with a paper towel before use. The slices of bread are carefully buttered all the way to the edges in the thinnest coating, which is only applied to protect the bread from becoming damp with cucumber juice. The slices of cucumber are dashed with salt and lemon juice, then placed in the sandwich just before serving in order to prevent the sandwich from becoming damp. The crusts of the bread are cut away cleanly and the sandwich sliced diagonally twice, creating four small triangular tea sandwiches.

Modern twists on the traditional recipe exist, involving cream cheese, chopped dill, chives or spices, but the traditional recipe is just bread, butter and cucumbers.

Ingredients:

• Slices of white toast bread
• English cucumber, peeled
• Salt
• Unsalted butter at room temperature
• Thick sour cream or crème fraîche (optional)
• Chives, chopped (optional)

Preparation:

1. Wash and peel the cucumber, then slice in the thinnest possible slices. Daylight should pass through them and a newspaper-column heading should be ligible through them.
2. Place cucumber slices in a bowl, season with salt and pour cold water over them. Let stand for 10 minutes. Drain, dry on paper towels, folding the towels and squeezing as much liquid from the cucumbers as possible.
3. Mix soft butter with cream. Butter each bread slice on one side. The bread needs to be buttered all the way to the edges in the thinnest coating, applied to protect the bread from becoming damp with cucumber juice.
4. Cover the lower slice with chopped chives with dried cucumber slices. Place the upper slice buttered side down and press into place. Using a sharp knife, slice away the crust from the sandwich on all sides.
5. Slice the sandwich diagonally twice, creating four small triangular finger-sandwiches. Or, use cookine cutters to carve out various shapes.
6. Serve on folded paper napkins.