But First a Joke

Two Cajuns were out hunting in the swamp and a flying saucer lands in front of them. Several little green men climb out. One Cajun turns to the other and says, "What is that?" The other says, "I don't know but head back to the camp and start a roux."

The Muffaletta

My wife and I were talking one weekend and I mentioned I needed a place to post the pictures that I occasionally share with friends. For several years I had used a friend's personal server and DSL connection to serve my current collection of photos or genealogy research. Now the problem was, what to call the site?

Being New Orleanians at heart even though we were exiled to Texas 20 years ago for economic reasons (it was hard to find a good high-tech job back then), food outside southern Louisiana is often a source of disgust. Near the top of the list is the "things" some people insist on calling Muffalettas. One chain restaurant even claims that its olive salad is from Central Grocery. Another put TOMATO and LETTUCE on the sandwich they delivered. I shudder to think about it.

So this site was born of our need to have food that we like, prepared the way we believe it should be.

The Recipe

While the Central Grocery recipe should be considered "official" there are many good varieties. The keys are the olive salad and the bread. Remember there is NO turkey, NO lettuce, NO tomato, NO mayonnaise, and NO mustard on a muffuletta. If the olive oil does not drip on your hands and the olives don't fall out in your lap as you eat the sandwich, you do NOT have enough olive salad on the sandwich.

  • Prosciutto ham

  • Genoa salami

  • Mortadella sausage

  • Mozzarella cheese

  • Provolone cheese

  • Olive Salad

Central Grocery Sign

The Bread

The Central Grocery muffuletta is served on a thick round Italian (Sicilian) bread about 10 inches in diameter with sesame seeds on the top of the bread. It is served untoasted and the sandwich is at room temperature.

The Messina's muffaletta (the one being eaten at the top of this page) is served toasted and warm on bread very similar to that at Central Grocery. Hurricane Katrina caused the closing of Messina's in the River Walk Mall but it has recently reopened!

What's in the olive salad?

  • Green Olive pieces/slices

  • Olive Oil

  • Garlic

  • Chopped Carrot

  • Chopped Celery

  • Chopped Cauliflower

  • Pimento pieces

  • Shallots

  • Capers

  • Parsley

  • Oregano

  • Black Pepper

The olive salad does NOT contain black olives.

How do you spell it?

There are so many spellings I decided to try to collect them and gave up. My wife believes its spelled muffaletta. A brief discussion with an Italian I was working with while in Germany caused him to do a quick check and he pronounced that the bread the sandwich is named for has two major spellings, muffoletta and muffaletta depending on which region of Sicily you are in.

Some other possibilities are:

  • muffuletta

  • muffeletta

  • muffiletta

  • muffalata

  • muffaleta

and on and on.....

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