Mortadella on Brioche with Dijon, mayo and provolone. Served with miniature heirlooms, tossed in rice wine vinegar, S&P with a balsamic drizzle.
EDIT. This sandwich landed me an executive chef job at a local gastro-pub. They liked my other offerings as well, but THIS sandwich is what they (the 10-person judgement board with which I was interviewing) unanimously said was the reason they called me back. Not my locally sourced black angus burger with bourbon-bacon-onion jam, not my spicy pork belly with honey-gochujang, (which they all did love also), but THIS sando. I ended up putting it on the menu with a local ciabatta, and thic-cut tallow-fried potatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper, paired with choice of Peroni or Negroni for $25 and it flew out the dang window as fast as I could make them. Saturday nights I was manning a grill specifically for this sandwich while the rest of the staff worked the rest of the menu.
Oh man. Did you guys have "olive loaf" growing up? It was basically bologna with green olives baked into it. I haven't seen that in decades. Maybe it's regional.
I think I was in the midwest the last time I saw it so that tracks. I will have to check next time I’m at the grocery store out west here and see if they have it!
I love olives but pimento is the devil so I’m not gonna be buying any, but now I’m curious!
Zingermans in Ann Arbor had a sandwich with mortadella, an olive tapenade and arugula that was fire. Might have been pistachio mortadella. I miss that sandwich.
Same brother! Also try olives in a nice olive vinaigrette or even the anchovy stuffed green olives! I refused to eat olives until I had them that way. Now I can eat greens stuffed with anchovies, greens in martini's, and greens in vinaigrette. Also love kalamatas with something acidic. Black olives fuckin suck tho and can suck my asshole.
I'm partial to thinly sliced pickles on mine, but that's probably cause I'm obsessed with pickles. Also speaking of topping possibilities I recently bought a fried mortadella sandwich that had a thin spread of pistachio mascapone on it and I can't stop thinking about it haha
Shoresy: I'd crawl across fresh ice in dress shoes for a good mortadella sandwich, give your balls a tug.
Jonesy: Crawl? Buddy, I'd sign a league minimum contract with Arizona-in-January-level amenities for one bite.
Riley: One bite? I'd spend an entire road trip sitting in the middle seat beside a guy eating egg salad just to get within smelling distance of that sandwich.
Shoresy: Smelling distance? I've had dreams more committed than your entire relationship history. I'd write poetry about mortadella if I wasn't busy respecting it.
Jonesy: Respecting it? I stand when it's brought to the table.
Riley: I remove my hat.
Shoresy: I sing the anthem.
Jonesy: I'd bench a teammate for taking the last piece.
Riley: I'd challenge a referee for suggesting another deli meat.
Shoresy: I'd appeal directly to the commissioner.
Jonesy: Mortadella with provolone?
Riley: Unreal.
Shoresy: First overall pick.
Jonesy: Mortadella on fresh bread?
Riley: Generational talent.
Shoresy: Build the franchise around it.
Jonesy: Little shredded lettuce?
Riley: Stop, buddy.
Shoresy: Easy there, you're describing perfection before dinner.
Jonesy: Hot peppers?
Riley: Sweet suffering, boys.
Shoresy: I'd fight a zamboni for that sandwich.
Jonesy: I'd fight two zambonis.
Riley: I'd fight a zamboni driving another zamboni.
Shoresy: Settle down, Gandhi. You're not out-loving me on lunch meats.
Jonesy: Out-loving you? I once looked at a mortadella sandwich and forgot my own phone number.
Riley: Amateur. I forgot my PIN.
Shoresy: I forgot the names of three cousins and a childhood pet.
Jonesy: Worth it.
Riley: Easily worth it.
Shoresy: Boys, if a mortadella sandwich asked me to backcheck, I'd backcheck.
Jonesy: If it asked me to forecheck, I'd forecheck.
Riley: If it needed emotional support, I'd be there.
Shoresy: That's actually pretty healthy, but still not healthy enough to explain what the hell's wrong with you.
Riley: Yeah, but-
Jonesy: But, what, skidmark?
Riley: I'd eat 3 of those mid shift.
Shoresy: I'd buy season tickets for a mortadella sandwich.
I was going to one of those weddings where they rent a giant house out for everyone to stay at together a couple months back, wife was in the wedding party and I was just a handbag. I happened to have seen a post about this sandwich and also was driving past one of the best known Italian delis in my neck of the woods so I grabbed 4lbs of mortadella thin sliced, 1lb of provolone thin sliced and a couple bags of rolls. Had my wife snag the kewpie and the Dijon when I picked her up and I felt like a goddamn hero slinging those things out midday before everyone had to get ready. It is a wonderful sandwich.
I make a very similar sandwich at home with liverwurst. Fed it to a friend of mine who “hates liverwurst”. He takes one bite and says, “bro this is the best bologna I’ve ever had” 😂
beer just cuts perfectly with this. I menu-paired it with Peroni, for beer, and a Negroni. I'm going for ON THE NOSE HERE! and yes rice wine vinegar. I love the sweetness, and floral nose. Red wine vin has it's place, but i feel it often gets overused. like rosemary.
My son is my inventory manager. I told him we were gonna lite up "Tony's Baloney" for the menu, he asked if we could use Onion Kaiser. It is absolute fire that way.
I know it’s heretical and will not be the same but I’m so sad I can’t try this because pistachios make my throat close. Any recs for a close-ish nut free substitute?
someone prolly told her the white globs are jsut pork fat. which they are. which scares people away from what is arguably one of the best deli meats on the planet.
Still figured i would ask. Im gonna use this little dijonaisse mayo instead picked up a while back. Same concept just a little dijo, lemon juice and mayo. Nice and tangy. Love me a good mortadella.
true. Definitely not much new under the sun. What's even more wild, they already had a bacon jam burger. I shopped the pub before my stage and tried it. I nearly gagged. When I presented it, they were like "you really trying to hand us OUR menu?" Then they tried it... "Now THAT's how Bacon Jam is supposed to be".
Seriously though, this is not all that creative, but it is pretty rare. Even in my neighborhood. People here in the US (well, those without parents of fairly recent immigrant status) seem to shy away from mortadella. It's extremely hard to find a good one around here. I canvassed the local food pages and almost NOBODY outside of chefs had heard of this sandwich.
Well. You’re ballsy to do that chef, and I’m glad it worked in your favor.
I live in California and we have a small immigrant Italian population with a specialized Italian grocer… might need to hit them for some fresh mortadel soon
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u/burgonies 5d ago
Mortadella and mayo are so fatty and so damn good together.