Last updated on April 11th, 2021 at 01:24 pm
We’re just a few weeks away from Mardi Gras and I had grand ambitions of making something to celebrate from La Cuisine Creole — it’s basically a New Orleans cook’s bible. It was first published in 1885 and it is amazing. It’s written earnestly with phrases and ideas that date itself… some need translation and others are unforgivable such as this gem on the chemical process of making soup: “…men with their superior instinctive reasoning power are more governed by law and abide more closely to rule; therefore are better cooks [than women]…”
That’s the only sexist remark I’ve come across, but the recipe titles are inspiring: “Nice Muffins”, “Another Ice Cream Without Cream”, “Barley or Sage Cream for Invalids.”
I could go on…
But what I really wanted to try was “Mock Turtle Soup. Excellent, No. 3” which I thought would be something akin to a mock apple pie, using Ritz crackers in place of turtle heads or something, but I was wrong. I don’t know exactly what makes it a mock turtle soup as it requires boiling a calf’s head, a veal knuckle and finishing it with the calf tongue and brains. I’m not opposed to cooking those items, I just have no idea where to buy them. Also: my compost bucket is not big enough to accommodate a calf’s skull.
So… I’m doing something less complicated but traditional New Orleans fare, nonetheless: Focaccia Muffaletta.
What is a Muffaletta Sandwich?
Muffaletta is really just a meat sandwich. The sandwich’s creator was a Sicilian man who owned a deli in the French Quarter. He came up with the sandwich when he noticed the workers who bought his sandwiches struggled to handle this worker’s meal. The olive salad was originally served on the side to accompany the meat sandwich. Keeping it all on the plate proved to be challenging, so he made some changes to the meal. To streamline it, he mashed the olive salad into the sandwich and made it a more compact lunch. That transformation turned it into a New Orleans staple like pralines or beignets.
Muffaletta Ingredients
Italian Meat
The sandwich is made up of Italian cured meats and provolone cheese. Salami (my favorite) is a must, but you can mix and match the other meats — capicola, mortadella, prosciutto; whatever deli meat you choose, you can’t really go wrong.
Olive Salad
Olive salad is the other ingredient. It’s basically olives, capers, shallots and giardinara pulsed together in a food processor. Some people add a little Parmesan cheese and red wine vinegar, but I found that the salad is pretty flavorful without those additions.
Muffaletta Bread
To be clear: I just like making focaccia, but the original muffaletta was made with a Sicilian sesame bread. It’s a crusty Italian bread sprinkled with sesame seeds. Also, it’s a round bread and I made mine square, but it doesn’t disturb the integrity of the classic sandwich.
This sandwich is massive. You could use all of the focaccia to make one big sandwich (which is what they do in New Orleans), but that’s a lot of sandwich. Just the one quarter I ate was too big—but, like any salami enthusiast, I had to eat the whole thing.. And I don’t regret it 😉
Muffaletta Sandwich
Ingredients
Focaccia
- 1 ¾ cup flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
- ½ cup warm water
- ¼ cup olive oil (plus more for drizzling)
Olive Salad
- ¼ cup giardiniera
- ¼ cup green olives
- ¼ cup black olives
- 1 TB capers
- 1 small shallot
- 1 clove of garlic
Meat and Cheese
- 1 oz Provolone
- 1 oz dry salami
- 1 oz mortadella
- 1 oz ham
- 1 oz capicola
Instructions
Focaccia
- With the water in the bowl of a stand mixer, sprinkle in the yeast on top and let stand until foamy; about five minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients and, using the hook attachment, stir for about five minutes until you have a smooth and slightly tacky dough. Form into a ball. Leave it in the bowl, cover with a towel or loosely fit plastic and let it rise for one hour.
- Preheat oven to 425℉.
- Punch down dough and place in an 8”x8” pan or casserole dish prepared with olive oil. Cover and let rise for another 30 minutes.
- When it’s ready to bake, make dents in the dough by gently poking it with your fingers.
- Drizzle with olive oil.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. (It shouldn’t brown too much; the internal temperature should be 200℉.)
Olive Salad
- Place shallot and garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse for 10 seconds.
- Add olives and giardinara to the food processor and pulse for about 15 seconds.
Assembly
- Cut bread in half and set aside one half. Slice one half down the middle so you have two slices of bread for a sandwich.
- Spread olive salad on one side of bread, then generously layer with provolone and meats. Smash it all together and serve.
If you get a chance, check out one of my favorite TikTokers. He focuses on Black history through food. He’s amazing.
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