Muffuletta

One of the most popular sandwiches to ever come out of New Orleans is the muffuletta. It was first served at Central Grocery, an Italian deli founded by Sicilian immigrant Salvatore Lupo in 1906. Sicilian farmers would stop by Lupo’s deli in between shifts at the French Market and juggle plates of olives, salumi, and cheese for lunch. To make it easier to eat, Lupo decided to slap all the ingredients between two pieces of bread, and the muffuletta was born. If you visit New Orleans today, you can find a version of muffuletta on nearly every block. Keep reading on for our version of a perfect muffuletta:

The bread:
The sandwich is actually named after the bread traditionally used in the recipe. The soft, round, and relatively flat loaf is covered in sesame seeds and provides the perfect pillow to cradle all the layers of meat and cheese. It’s fairly hard to find if you’re not in New Orleans or near an Italian bakery, but you don’t need one for this recipe. Try looking for a loaf of Italian-style bread at your local supermarket. It doesn’t even have to be round—you just want the bread to have a soft interior. Even a big hunk of focaccia can work, but we wouldn’t recommend ciabatta (the firm crust and large air bubbles make it too tough for this sandwich).

How to make a muffuletta:
The original muffuletta at Central Grocery uses ham, salami, mortadella, Swiss, and provolone. Our version deviates a little from the traditional, using capicola instead of the ham and omitting the Swiss; however, any combo of Italian-style cold cuts and cheeses would taste great in this. You could add in some prosciutto, Genoa salami, 'nduja, or even fresh mozzarella for some creaminess.

While many parts of the muffuletta are open to interpretation, the olive salad isn’t one of them. The blend of olives, giardiniera, capers, and peppers is arguably the star of the whole sandwich. You can even make it up to a month ahead of time. Simply store in an airtight container with a layer of olive oil on top, then place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Serving a muffuletta:
Once you assemble the muffuletta, you may be tempted to eat it right away—but you need to let it sit for at least 30 minutes. Giving the olive salad time to soak into the bread and get cozy with the cold cuts will take your sandwich from great to game-changing.

Depending on where you go, you can order a muffuletta hot or cold. It’s a bit of a controversial question, but we think both preparations have their own merits.

Did you try making this sandwich? Let us know how it went!