Explainer Life & Arts

How to make a New Orleans sandwich

Name: How to make a New Orleans sandwich
Uploaded: 2017-07-05T12:02:08.931Z
Duration: 3 min 13 s
Channel: Financial Times
Description: You’ll need a day for the 'muffuletta', an American-Sicilian ode to meat and cheese

It should take you at least a day to put together a proper 'muffuletta' — a Sicilian ode to meat and cheese, invented in the American South over a century ago in a New Orleans deli.

July 5, 2017

Producer Natalie Whittle. Filmed by Liam McCarthy. Edited by Oliver McGuirk

Transcript

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So this sandwich, it's an absolute beast. I mean, we put down a layer of the olive salad, top that with provolone cheese, on top of that mortadella, on top of that salami. Then we've got coppa. On top of that, there's some ham. And then I'm going to finish the whole lot off with some mozzarella cheese, more of that olive salad, and then crush the lid on top.

This is the bit that brings all the flavours together and unifies them. And like every other part of the sandwich, it's part of that fantastic Sicilian deli history. Some garlic, chop it up small. Spring onions. Just take most of the green out and most of the root off.

So the next thing you're going to need is some celery. Now the key part of this is olives. There's two different kinds of olives. There's these black ones. Then, green olives. Same kind of thing, slightly different flavour. Then just chop in some regular green ones, and actually buy the pepperoncini separately. Beauties.

A handful of capers. Big old handful of flat-leaf parsley. Add a large glug of olive oil, pepper, salt, and just mince the lot. Put the lot in the fridge and leave it overnight to get to know itself.

So this one's been in the fridge overnight. It's good.

You can do this with any sourdough loaf from the supermarket, but I've just cooked a focaccia in a cake tin. So I'm going to cut the whole loaf horizontally and build the sandwich inside.

OK, so here's the top. We've also created plenty of space in there, but there's still a little bit of thickness on the bread. Now I'm going to sort that out for the bottom. And we can start to build.

Half the salad, spread that across the bread. Provolone cheese. So the next layer is mortadella, which I love this stuff.

So the next layer is a salami. Add a layer of coppa, which is a air-dried pork loin. This is San Daniele air-dried ham, holds the layers of the meats down.

So this is a ball of buffalo mozzarella. Open that out, and then start shredding it over the top layer of the sandwich. It's time for the final layer, and the remaining half of the olive salad.

So this is the only hairy bit of the exercise. OK, here goes nothing. That's the muffaletta.

Wrap it in greaseproof paper or foil. And put it in the fridge for a couple of hours, or maybe even overnight. So here's the one I made last night. Wrapped up tight. And there it is.

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