Cucumber sandwiches are one of the easiest of all tea sandwiches to prepare. Thinly slice the cucumber and arrange on bread that has been spread with dill butter. To make the dill butter, snip 1 tablespoon dill into ½ cup of softened butter and mix.
The fun part of serving this tea sandwich is deciding how to cut and display it. I looked around the Net for photos (all Creative Commons Licensed) to illustrate the different ways cucumber sandwiches are presented. Which one do you find most appealing?
This first cucumber sandwich is the work of a professional tearoom chef. The slices are very precise and the filling extremely thin.
These cucumber sandwiches are open faced. Stacked on their sides, they make an abundant-looking plate.
Cucumber sandwiches presented in a very traditional manner, simply cut into squares. I notice some edges of crust but I believe that's because of the kind of bread that was used.
I think each presentation has its own appeal. The tearoom sandwich is beautiful but I'm afraid you'd taste mostly bread. The second sandwich offers lots of nice dill butter under the cucumber. The ones on the bottom might get a bit messy though. The last plate shows a coarser style of bread that probably adds a lot of flavor and texture. The triangle shape is the most common style you'll find.
