Egg Salad on Rye Bread, at the Counter
Hard-boiled eggs mashed, bound with a little mayonnaise and mustard, perked up with scallion and served between two slices of rye bread. The economical, filling, and quick lunch of the hurried 20th-century researcher.
Hard-boiled eggs mashed, bound with a little mayonnaise and mustard, perked up with scallion and served between two slices of rye bread. The economical, filling, and quick lunch of the hurried 20th-century researcher.
I must confess: the table never mattered much to me. When the lab holds you, you don't linger. At noon, I would take whatever the corner luncheonette served at the counter—an egg sandwich on rye, eaten standing, and back to the bench. The secret, if one can speak of a secret for so little, is not to mash the egg too much: let there be some texture, a hint of mustard, and a bit of green onion to wake it all up. Enough to last until evening without thinking about it.
- •Hard-boiled eggs — a few (base)
- •Mayonnaise — a little (binder)
- •Mustard — a dab (kick)
- •Scallion — one stalk (freshness)
- •Rye bread — 2 slices (vehicle)
Egg Salad on Rye Bread, at the Counter
Hard-boiled eggs mashed, bound with a little mayonnaise and mustard, perked up with scallion and served between two slices of rye bread. The economical, filling, and quick lunch of the hurried 20th-century researcher.
Why this dish? Absorbed by his work, Sabin paid little attention to meals and often ate in a hurry. As a student and then researcher in New York and Cincinnati, he knew the automats and luncheonettes where one stood and ate a pre-made sandwich—egg salad on rye bread, inherited from Jewish delis, is the archetype.
I must confess: the table never mattered much to me. When the lab holds you, you don't linger. At noon, I would take whatever the corner luncheonette served at the counter—an egg sandwich on rye, eaten standing, and back to the bench. The secret, if one can speak of a secret for so little, is not to mash the egg too much: let there be some texture, a hint of mustard, and a bit of green onion to wake it all up. Enough to last until evening without thinking about it.
Ingredients (period version)
- Hard-boiled eggs — a few (base)
- Mayonnaise — a little (binder)
- Mustard — a dab (kick)
- Scallion — one stalk (freshness)
- Rye bread — 2 slices (vehicle)
Ingredients
- Eggs — 3, hard-boiled (base)
- Mayonnaise — 1 tbsp (binder)
- Dijon mustard — 1/2 tsp (kick)
- Scallion — 1, sliced (freshness)
- Rye bread — 2 slices (vehicle)
- Salt, pepper — to taste (seasoning)
- Lettuce leaf — 1, optional (crunch)
Method
- Cook eggs for 9 minutes, cool and peel.
- Coarsely mash with a fork, leaving some chunks—not a paste.
- Mix with mayonnaise, mustard, sliced scallion, salt, and pepper.
- Spread on a slice of rye bread, optionally add a lettuce leaf, close with second slice.
- Cut in half and eat without ceremony—ideally standing.
How it was made : Egg salad on rye bread is a classic of Jewish delicatessens and New York automats of the 20th century—cafeterias where you slid coins into glass compartments to retrieve a prepared dish. Cheap and filling, this sandwich fed students, employees, and busy researchers. Rye bread, an Ashkenazi heritage, was the natural vehicle.
The contemporary twist : Serve it open-faced on a single slice of well-toasted rye, sprinkled with scallion and cracked pepper: the counter's austerity becomes a modern tartine.
Sources : Joan Nathan, Jewish Cooking in America, Knopf, 1994 · John F. Mariani, The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, Bloomsbury, 1999
Albert Sabin · Charactorium