Muffuletta Sandwich Recipe
In my humble opinion, the Central Grocery’s Muffuletta is the best. It’s the standard that all other Muffulettas should strive to emulate! There are a lot of bad ones in the city. The one at Napoleon House is pretty good, it’s a heated version with a more finely chopped olive salad. They use Pastrami on their version, I’m not crazy about that part, but it’s pretty good. Pretty good, but like all others, it’s no Central Grocery.
I watched Emeril Live the other night, Mario Batali was a guest, and Emeril made a Muffuletta. Now, the meats and cheeses he used looked phenomenal, his olive salad looked great, but then he came to the bread. He used a nice looking loaf of bread, but it was obviously too much of a rustic loaf for a Muffuletta, I like something a little lighter for the (with sesame seeds), but I guess I can live with that part. But then… he cuts the bread, right, and out of nowhere (dramatic pause) he plunges his meat hooks into it and digs out all of the wonderful center of the bread on both sides and discards it! I almost fell out of my chair! My skin is crawling just thinking about it. The moral of the story is this:
Don’t do that. It makes my skin crawl. Unless of course you like it that way, then to hell with me.
Back to the recipe, I make a pretty good Muffuletta, but I’ll be honest, it’s no Central Grocery, but it’s pretty darned good. The quality bread, as I just emphasized is important, you need about a 10 inch round loaf with a good coarse texture, and a nice crust (not too hard) and sesame seeds. Here is my recipe, with a deep, humble bow to Central Grocery:
My Muffuletta
1 10″ round loaf Italian bread with Sesame seeds My Recipe
1 Recipe Olive Salad
1/4 lb Genoa Salami (Oldani is the best, and I’m relatively certain it’s what CG uses)
1/4 lb Hot Capicola (this is my spin, you can use regular Ham.)
1/4 lb Mortadella (I use San Danielle)
1/8 lb Sliced Mozzarella
1/8 lb Provolone
Assembly:
Cut the bread in half length wise.
Brush both sides with the oil from your 1 week old Olive Salad, go a little heavier on the bottom.
Layer half of the Oldani on the bottom half of the bread. Then the Mortadella. Then the Mozzarella, then the Capicola, Provolone, and the remainder of Oldani. Top this with the olive salad. Put the lid on and press it down without smashing the bread. Quarter it. You’ve just created pure heaven.
Serves: 4 light eaters, 2 hungry hangovers or one bad to the bone eating machine!
My Other New Orleans Sandwich Recipes:
now ya went and did it. . . muffs are my fave sandwich, (next to a sloppy roast beast po-boy, of course). and you are dead on about central’s sammies, they are still the best in town. they do ‘em all great.
we’re gonna have to try this out next week while s.a. is laid up and off of work, a muff is too much for her to handle and make work the next day.
oh, and the new site looks very clean, sorta like a very good resturant’s kitchen.
Comment by m.a. sample — July 23, 2005 @ 8:53 pm
Thanks M.A., Still working out some bugs and the facelift. The sloppy roast beef Po’ Boys are great, with pan debris, I like the one at Mother’s.
Comment by Danno — July 24, 2005 @ 9:20 am
I had my first experience with the muffuletta this weekend when I visited my Friend in New Orleans. One of our firsts stops was to Central’s Grocery to try a muff. Man, I mean what can I say?? It was amazing. We were going to stop back by on monday before we left to grab some for the road, but they were closed. They did tell us that they are very short-handed and that may have been why they were closed, but yeah…. CG is hiring if anyone needs a job… haha…. and thanks for the recipe bc i’m dying for another and it broke my heart that they were closed.
Comment by Emily — February 22, 2006 @ 12:35 am
Danno,
Absolutely love your website, my new one is under construction right now, should be done shortly. Drop me an address and I’ll send you a copy of one of my cookbooks. Who should I sign it for? Keep up the great work. Thanks - Chef Joe!
Comment by Chef Joe Evans — June 24, 2006 @ 12:45 pm
I saw Rachel Ray eating a muffuletta from central grocery on $40 a Day last week. Came across your blog and made your recipe this weekend. Fabulous! The bread turned out perfect and the olive salad was incredible. Thanks.
Comment by kathy — September 11, 2006 @ 1:57 pm
My absolute pleasure Kathy! Nice work, it looks absolutely gorgeous! Now I am just starving for a Muffuletta.
Here is the link:
http://pinkchalkstudio.com/blog/2006/09/11/muffuletta/
Comment by Danno — September 11, 2006 @ 8:37 pm
I’m from New Orlean’s and have eaten many Muffs. Central Grocery’s Muffuletta may be the original, but by far it is NOT the best. The bread is very good, that is always important to a great sandwich, but their olive salad is very weak in taste. I’m sure the meats and cheeses are good, but Central’s stinginess will leave you tasting mostly bread.
On a scale from 1 to 10, I give Central’s Muff a low 5.
Comment by Paul Nassauer — May 24, 2007 @ 4:35 pm
I grew up in Slidell and I will have to admit that the Central grocery was first with the muff, but (in my opinion) not the best. I have lived in Atlanta since I was 18 and have not been back to Central since I was 12 years old. Our local pizza place in Slidell delivered quality muffs to your front door. Imagine if Domino’s Pizza did that? It would probably suck, but imagine if it was as good as Central’s muff.
Pre-Katrina I would always go to Frank’s place next door. This has been my wife’s, friends’ and my destination on every trip. I usually eat a muff there twice in every visit.
I really need to figure out the bread. That is the real key to this sandwich (also the PoBoy). It is the one thing I have yet to get correct.
BTW: This site awesome! PLEASE, keep up the good work!
Comment by mark — December 23, 2007 @ 10:44 pm
Your Muffuletta Look’s great!
I’m going to have a look around on you site.
See what dish is going to make my table in the near future.
Thanks.
Kazer
food.kntnetworks.com
Comment by Kazer — January 21, 2008 @ 5:15 pm
Wow, Danno. What can I say? I expected your recipe to be good, but I was floored by how well it tasted like Central Grocery’s. The olive salad tastes like I picked it up in the French Quarter this morning. Here’s my success with your recipe — I still can’t believe how well it came out. Thank you, thank you!
Comment by Justin — February 7, 2008 @ 1:19 pm
w/out question my all-time favorite sammich, it sits alone atop all others
and the Central Grocery is the only place I long to head back to every year for a sammich…the sights, sounds of New Orleans are a second thought to that sammich
Comment by btezra — February 8, 2008 @ 3:29 pm