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The Sandwich 100 · make it at home

New Orleans muffuletta

30 min, plus 1 day for the olive salad and 1 hr pressing · One 25 cm (10 in) loaf, 4 hungry people

A round sesame loaf, cured meats and cheese, and an olive salad that soaks into the bread. Make the olive salad a day ahead and press the whole thing under a pan; it's a sandwich that wants to sit.

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The real one

You need

• 1 round Italian sesame loaf, about 25 cm (10 in)
• For the olive salad: 150 g (1 cup) green olives with pimiento, chopped; 75 g (1/2 cup) kalamata olives, chopped; 120 g (3/4 cup) giardiniera, drained and chopped; 2 tbsp capers; 1 small stick celery, finely diced; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1 tbsp chopped parsley; 1 tsp dried oregano; 1 tbsp red wine vinegar; 120 ml (1/2 cup) olive oil
• 100 g (3 1/2 oz) Genoa salami
• 100 g (3 1/2 oz) mortadella
• 100 g (3 1/2 oz) ham
• 100 g (3 1/2 oz) provolone, sliced
• 100 g (3 1/2 oz) Swiss cheese, sliced

How to make it

1. Olive salad (10 min, then a day): Stir together everything for the olive salad, pack it in a jar so the oil covers it, and refrigerate overnight (it keeps 2 weeks).
2. Open the loaf (2 min): Cut it in half horizontally and pull out a little of the soft crumb from both halves.
3. Oil the bread (2 min): Spoon the oil from the olive salad over both cut sides until they glisten.
4. Build (5 min): On the bottom half layer the salami, provolone, mortadella, Swiss and ham, then spread a thick layer of olive salad, about 1 cup, to the edges. Put the lid on.
5. Press (1 hr): Wrap tightly in plastic, set a heavy pan with a few cans on top and leave 1 hour at room temperature (or up to 6 in the fridge). Cut into quarters with a serrated knife.

Tips

• For a warm one, like Cochon Butcher's, bake the wrapped-in-foil quarter 10 minutes at 180 C (350 F).
• No sesame loaf? Use the roundest, softest Italian loaf you can find and brush the top with water and sesame seeds, then toast 5 minutes.

Chef Amazing's own home version, in our words; not any shop's recipe.