A canape is half of a sandwich. Slices of bread are cut into fancy shapes, toasted or quickly fried in hot oil, or they may be spread with butter and browned in a quick oven. One slice only is used for each canape. The mixture is spread on top, the top garnished, and the canape used at once. 

INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS

Cold canapes are placed always among the appetizers and served before the soup. They are made of such materials as caviar, sardines, anchovies, pickled oysters, pickled lobster, deviled shrimps, or a mixture of one or two of these materials. 

A hot canape, however, is served in the place of fish or as an entrée. If they are dressed with either fish or shell-fish, they will take the place of that course. When made from chicken, sweetbreads or game, should be served as an entrée, following the fish. 

Other suitable materials for open sandwiches include cream cheese, jam, stuffed olives, chopped parsley, hard-cooked eggs with the yolks or whites forced through a ricer, pimiento cut into attractive shapes, and any other material that will add either flavor or color. 

ANCHOVY CANAPES
Cream two tablespoons butter. Add one-half teaspoon anchovy paste and spread thin slices of fresh toast with this. Over that put slices of hard boiled or chopped egg and on top one rolled anchovy.

CAVIAR CANAPES
Season the caviar with onion and a very little lemon juice. Spread over a round or square canape, put chopped onion around the edge, and garnish the top with a hard-boiled egg. Place on paper mats and send at once to the table. These are used as a first course at lunch or dinner. 

CHOPPED TONGUE CANAPES
Chop cold, cooked tongue very fine. Season it with two tablespoons of olive oil and a dusting of pepper. Spread it over the top of a round of toasted bread. Garnish the edge with the small leaves of cress, put a little grated hard-boiled egg in the center and send at once to table. 

SARDINE CANAPES
Remove the skin and pound the sardines to a paste. Put a thick layer of this paste over the top of a round of toasted bread. Cut one gherkin into very thin slices, and arrange them overlapping around the edge. Put a little finely chopped hard-boiled egg in the center, and they are ready to serve. 

SARDINE AND EGG CANAPES
Toast small pieces of bread. Cover with a paste made of sardines and a little lemon juice, and top with the yolks of hard boiled egg put through the ricer.

FISH CANAPES
Pound one-fourth pound of cooked fish to a paste. Season it with a few drops of onion juice, a saltspoon of salt, and a dash of black pepper. Stir into it two tablespoons of tartar sauce. Spread this on six or eight rounds of buttered bread browned in the oven. Garnish the tops with grated cucumber and send to table. 

DEVILED OYSTER CANAPES
Cut slices of bread into squares, toast and remove the crusts. Remove the hard part from a pint of pickled oysters. Place oysters over the bread, close together and in rotation, and dust thickly with red pepper. Put over as a thin covering a highly seasoned sauce mayonnaise, and serve. Do not put over a second piece of bread. 

CHEESE CANAPES 
Cut bread in quarter-inch slices and spread lightly with French mustard. Sprinkle with grated cheese and finely chopped olives, then brown slightly in the oven.

SALMON AND TOMATO CANAPES
On a small piece of toast put a paste of salmon, and on this a slice of ripe tomato with mayonnaise.

LOBSTER CANAPES
Chop one-half cup of lobster meat fine and mix thoroughly with the white of two hard boiled eggs which has been pressed through a ricer. Season with salt, pepper, one teaspoon mustard, and moisten with thick mayonnaise. Saute circular pieces of bread until brown, then spread with the mixture. Sprinkle over the top a thin layer of hard boiled yolks.

MUSHROOM CANAPES (Hot) 
Cook fresh mushrooms in butter. Place on rounds of toast and spread with chervil or parsley butter. Pipe a mound of beaten egg white, seasoned with salt and pepper, on each mushroom and place in a hot oven until the meringue is brown.

PRUNE AND BACON CANAPES (Hot) 
Remove the stones from large prunes and olives. Stuff the olives with capers and bits of anchovy. Put them in the prunes, wrap each prune with bacon and tie with a thread. Place in a hot oven until the bacon is crisp. Remove the thread and place on disks of toast spread with Parmesan butter.

LIVER SAUSAGE CANAPES
Spread rounds of toast with liver sausage. Garnish with the yolks of a hard boiled egg put through a ricer. In the center, place a spoonful of minced stuffed olives.

SAUSAGE AND OLIVE CANAPES
Toast rounds of bread on one side. Spread the untoasted side with mayonnaise, and on this lay a slice of summer sausage as thin as it can be cut. Top with minced olive and pimento in mayonnaise.

OLIVE AND NUT CANAPES
To one cup minced stuffed olives, add one-half cup minced nut meats and one-half cup mayonnaise. Mix well and spread on toasted bread cut in any shape you want. Garnish with a little mound of mayonnaise sprinkled with paprika.

CRAB MEAT CANAPES
Take one cup crab meat, one-fourth teaspoon paprika, one-half teaspoon salt, one-fourth teaspoon mustard, one teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, one tablespoon lemon juice, and one-half teaspoon horseradish. Chop the crab meat, mix well with the seasonings, and spread on thin rounds of untoasted brown bread. Garnish with a small cube of lemon.

TUNA CANAPES
To one cup tuna fish, add one-half tablespoon olive oil, one tablespoon tomato ketchup, one-half teaspoon salt, one tablespoon lemon juice, and one-fourth teaspoon paprika. Chop the fish, add seasonings, and spread on small rounds of lightly toasted bread. Garnish with sliced pimentos.

SHRIMP CANAPES
Fry some rounds of bread. Make some shrimp butter by pounding equal quantities of shrimps, from which heads, tails, and shells have been removed, and fresh butter till they form a smooth mass. Spread the fried bread with the butter. Place whole shrimps on the top in the shape of a rosette, and in the center, put a tiny pinch of chopped parsley.

Image from Deposit Photos

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