Muffuletta

It’s meaty, it’s cheesy, it’s briny, and oh so good! Muffulettas (muff-a-lottas) are an Italian American sandwich invented in New Orleans by Sicilian immigrants. It boasts layers of salami, ham, cheese, and olive salad on a round Italian loaf topped with sesame seeds and happens to be my favorite childhood sandwich (roast beef poboy and Reubens are tied for a fairly close 2nd). It’s one of the things I would always overeat when my mom made it.

One of my favorite memories of high school was when my sister would take me to NOLA and we’d grab a muffuletta and a Barq’s (in the bottle) from Central Grocery and walk a few feet to eat “back the levee” of the Mississippi River. Central Grocery sells cold muffulettas and these adventures were the only time in mind it was acceptable to eat a cold one. All other times I preferred it to be hot with the melted cheese and crispy bun.

Muffulettas are simple to make but the ingredients do matter. 

Muffuletta bread is a round loaf with sesame seeds on top. It’s a light bread that is on the drier side. It can be tricky to find outside of the NOLA area. If you’re in St. Louis, you can order it from Vitale’s Bakery (on The Hill). It’s not a bread they make daily so you have to call them at least a day in advance to order it. They’ll ask you if you want it seeded, the answer is YES! I’ve never heard of muffuletta bread without the sesame seeds. If you live somewhere else, you can check Italian bakeries in your area. As a back-up plan, you can use an airy Italian loaf but you’ll need to serve the sandwich open face and it won’t be the same.

Another important ingredient is olive salad. You can find olive salad in many places in the US, but many of them fall flat. For example, there’s one olive salad I found in St. Louis, and it was far too heavy on the olive side. The good news is I found a really quick way to make it.

Muffuletta Ingredients
16 oz mild giardiniera – regular and not minced (DiGregorio brand)
10 oz jar of pimento stuffed green olives
10” round loaf of sesame seed muffuletta bread
2 Tbl minced garlic
8 oz salami
8 oz provolone cheese
8 oz mortadella

Muffuletta Directions
Preheat oven to 350.

Make the olive salad. Dump the 16 oz mild giardiniera into a bowl (make sure the olive oil goes into the bowl). Drain the 10 oz jar of pimento stuffed green olives and rough chop it. You do not need the brine. You don’t need the chopping to be exact. You want the olives to be able to lay flat but still have plenty of texture. Add the olives to the bowl and mix.

Slice the bread horizontally (where the bread begins to dome is a good estimate of where to cut). You’ll want to use a bread knife or other serrated knife.

Put the bread on a rimmed baking sheet. Spread about 2 Tbl of olive oil from the olive salad mix onto the bottom loaf and 6 Tbl of olive oil on the top loaf. Oil from the meat will soak into the bottom bread so you don’t need to start with as much oil.

Sprinkle 2 Tbl of minced garlic on the bottom loaf. 

Spread a ½ lb of salami evenly on top of the bottom of the bread. Make sure you have a little meat overhang the edge because the meat will crisp up. Use a slotted spoon and add ½ to ⅔ of the olive salad mixture on top of the salami. You want to drain as much of the olive oil out as you can.

Layer ½ lb of provolone cheese topped with ½ lb of mortadella (let a little of the mortadella peak out from the bread). Put the top of the bun on the sandwich. Put it in the oven and tent it with the foil. Bake it for about 20 minutes. Uncover it and bake for 10 minutes. The bread should be crispy and the cheese in the center should be completely melted.

Carefully slice the sandwich onto a chopping board and cut it into quarters (you can cut it into sixths if a quarter is too large of a serving).

Notes
Mortadella is often the meat found on a muffuletta that isn’t salami. It can be hard to find at most groceries, but most ethnic or specialty groceries will have it. My mom always made it with Black Forest ham in lieu of mortadella because she preferred it. Some muffulettas will have salami, mortadella, and Black Forest ham.

Make sure you get mild giardiniera. The hot kind is delicious, but has no place on a muffuletta. Different brands have a large variance on the ratio and size of the vegetables. I only tested it with DiGregio which can be found at DiGregorio Market on The Hill in St. Louis.

I’ve seen different orders of layering of the ingredients. You do what suits you.