Making one giant sandwich cake is easier than making 12 individual sandwiches. Let this truth motivate you to make the best damn deli meat sandwich any picnic or backyard barbecue has ever seen. With outdoor party season reaching its peak, you’ll need a hearty sando that packs in flavor and just plain packs (for transportation). Allow me to suggest the muffuletta sandwich. Its Italian flavors and celebratory New Orleans roots make it the perfect crowd pleaser to complement good times.
Legend has it the muffuletta, or muffaletta, was created at Central Grocery in New Orleans, likely by Italian immigrants who wanted a sandwich that absolutely slapped. And it does. It’s made by packing a large, round loaf of soft, white bread with a layer of tangy, oily olive salad and chopped giardiniera (a variety of pickled vegetables like cauliflower, carrots, and peppers with herbs). Various sliced deli meats, like mortadella, ham, capicola, and Genoa salami are stacked inside, along with provolone cheese and Swiss. The entire sandwich is served by slicing it into wedges, like how you would serve a cake. So stick a candle in it and call it my birthday. Here’s how you make it.
Traditionally a large, squat sesame loaf is used, but any boule that has a thin, pliable crust will do. There’s going to be a lot of filling so you don’t want to struggle just biting through the crust. I used a wheat boule about eight-inches wide.
Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Split the loaf horizontally. Hollow out both sides of the loaf. Not drastically, there should still be spongy crumb remaining before you get to the crust, but a divot holds onto the olive salad nicely. I took out maybe a quarter to a half-inch of bread from both sides.
Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Spread the chopped olive salad on both pieces of bread. Don’t be shy, and include the oily brine as you scoop it on. Now for the meats and cheeses. You can pile them on in any order that you like.
Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
I shingled the salami on both sides of bread over the olive salad, then capicola, followed by provolone. The mortadella went in the middle, on the bottom bun. Somehow I found a deli that had mortadella studded with pistachios. If you get the opportunity to buy this, do it. I quickly flipped the top side onto the bottom, et voilà.
Photo: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Wrap the mega sandwich tightly in waxed paper or a few layers of plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes, a few hours, or even up to overnight, depending on the firmness of the crumb. (Too soft, and it might get soggy.) If you’re keeping it in there for more than 30 minutes, give the whole sandwich a flip in the fridge. The brine and oil from the olive salad seeps down into the crumb, giving the bread some valuable seasoning, so I like to let the top half soak as well.
If you’re bringing this hulk to a barbecue or picnic, it’s already packed. Just chuck it in a cooler and, as always, bring a knife with you so you can cut it into slices when you arrive. Oh, and bring napkins, the oils and juices from the olive salad will marinate the bread, but also your fingers. Trust me, you won’t be mad when it’s happening. This sandwich is salty, briny, piquant-sour, and satisfying. It’s everything you love about Italian cured meats, crunchy antipasti, and soft, chewy bread.
You’ll run into a lot of opinions on which sliced meats and cheeses to use or what kind of olive salad is best. But what I love most about this sandwich is that you can switch out a variety of sliced Italian meats and cheeses. So you have ham instead of capicola, go for it. Bologna instead of mortadella, who’ll notice? Maybe you have extra mozzarella cheese you’re trying to finish; go on, add it. I bought a jar of olive salad because it was easy for me, but you could make your own. Some grocery stores, like Whole Foods, have an antipasti bar, or buy a jar of pitted mixed olives and a jar of giardiniera (it’s usually right next to the olives). Pop it all in a food processor and pulse 10 times.
A little variety never hurts. Whether you use this recipe or experiment with new combinations of your own, this sandwich will knock everyone’s socks off.
Muffuletta for Ten
Ingredients:
1 8-inch round loaf of bread1 16 ounce jar of olive salad4 ounces sliced Genoa salami4 ounces sliced capicola4 ounces sliced provolone cheese4 ounces sliced mortadellaSplit the loaf of bread in half horizontally. Hollow out some of the crumb on both sides. Fill both hollows in with olive salad and spoonfuls of brine. Layer on the meats and cheeses in any pattern you like. Close the lid of the sandwich and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap or paper. Put it on a plate in the fridge (it will be oily). Let it “set” for at least 30 minutes. If leaving in the fridge for longer, flip it after 30 minutes so the oils can soak into the top bun too. With a serrated knife, slice into 10 wedges to serve. Optionally, if you like hot sandwiches, you could also toast the entire muffuletta in a 350°F oven for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
