Almost Italian

long with Spiedies and Spezzi, the Muffuletta sandwich is an Italian-American creation so closely identified with a particular area that it has remained virtually unadopted—and unadapted—outside its birthplace.

Photograph Copyright © 2009, Skip Lombardi

Muffuletta is still confined to the city limits of New Orleans. Of course, recipes have long appeared in books, magazines, and online, but exiled and transplanted New Orleaneans admonish that muffuletta should savored at the source.

Popular food writing credits New Orleans grocer Salvatore Lupo for his 1906 invention of the muffuletta. Dispensing a variety of household necessities in what was, at that time, a largely residential neighborhood, Signor Lupo’s Central Grocery on Decatur Street served the French Quarter as a sort of proto-7-Eleven. Less an old residential neighborhood, and more a tourist destination now, the French Quarter was actually known as Little Italy, or even Little Palermo, in the early 20th century, when New Orleans was a major port of entry for Italian immigrants. Whether you call the Quarter Italian or French, this is still the area in which to seek this legendary sandwich.

There was an open-air market on Decatur Street, and around noon, the market’s truck farmers and vegetable vendors would buy loaves of bread from a baker’s pushcart, (sources cite one named LoGiudice), then proceed to Signor Lupo’s salumeria to buy cold cuts, cheese, and olive salad, all of which they would take back to the market for their lunch.

The savvy Signor Lupo realized the promise of convenient packaging and cleverly consolidated all the ingredients: he made sandwiches. Taking a small, round loaf called a muffoletta, he halved it horizontally, hollowed it slightly, and filled it with an assortment of thinly sliced meats, provolone cheese, pickled vegetables, and smashed, pitted olives. The sandwiches became so popular that Signor Lupo contracted with the baker to supply him with enough muffoletta loaves to service his sandwich clientele at Central Grocery.

Accounts of the market folks’ behavior were brought to life for me by my Sicilian grandfather. I have vivid memories of him coming home to eat lunch in the 1950′s. Even though he was always in a starched white shirt and tie, his custom was to tear off a large piece of an Italian loaf to accompany a few slices of Genoa salami or capocola, a chunk of hard cheese, and some olives or pickled hot peppers. I’m not sure if it ever occurred to him to put all the components into a sandwich.

Returning to the Crescent City specialty—the New Orleans loaf has clear antecedents in Sicily, where small muffoletti continue to be savored, whether they are split to enclose rich, oil-preserved tuna and hard-boiled eggs or spicy sausages with sautéed greens. The word itself seems to represent the cultural mélange that is Sicily’s heritage. Muffa is a Teutonic word for a round mold; thus, a muffoletto or muffaletta would be a small mold, with the vowels varying from village to village. And there may even be a dual etymology: the speech of Sicily is peppered with Arabic from the island’s centuries of Islamic civilization. So, reference to the Arabic mufalla‘, meaning ‘split apart,’ also seems quite conceivable.*

While the Central Grocery muffuletta sandwich reigned supreme, it was not without imitators. Also on Decatur Street, Progress Grocery was selling muffuletta by 1924. Today, the sandwich is made by dozens of shops throughout the city.

Like the jazz brunch at Brennan’s, Hurricane cocktails at Pat O’Brien’s, Dixieland at Lulu White’s Mahogany Hall, muffuletta sandwiches from Central Grocery continue to nourish those who love the Big Easy.

Ingredients:

For the Olive Salad:

1 Cup each, green and black olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
3/4 Cup Giardiniera (Italian-style vinegar-pickled vegetables), coarsely chopped
2 Tbs. capers, well-drained and coarsely chopped
1 Clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
4 Tbs. Flat-leaf Italian parsley, coarsely chopped
2 Tbs. Extra-Virgin olive oil

Meats & Cheese:
(all ingredients thinly sliced)

1/4 Lb. Genoa salami
1/4 Lb. Mortadella
1/4 Lb. Capocola salami
1/4 Lb. Boiled ham
1/4 Lb. Provolone cheese

9″- 12″ Round, Italian-style loaf of white bread

Preparation:

Make the salad at least one hour before assembling the sandwich (to let the flavors blend together):

Combine all ingredients for the olive salad and allow the salad to stand at room temperature for approximately an hour.

Split the bread in half horizontally. Gently pull out approximately 1/4 of the center of the white portion of each half. Reserve for breadcrumbs or another purpose.

This is the traditional assembly:

Lay both halves cut-side up. On the bottom half of the loaf*, layer the Genoa, mortadella, capocola, boiled ham, and provolone. On the top half, spoon as much of the olive salad as will fit into the crater.

Carefully put the halves together on a large plate. Place a 10″ dinner plate atop the sandwich and weight it down with something like a 28 oz. can of tomatoes or a couple of bags of dry cannellini beans.

Allow the weighted sandwich to sit at room temperature for approximately 1 hour.

To Serve:

With a large sharp knife, cut the muffuletta in quarters and serve with additional giardiniera and pickled hot peppers.

Serves 2-4

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