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12
MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
MARCH | APRIL 2014
Ready to make room on your
bookshelves?
Have cookbooks that you
haven’t opened in years? Take them to
the SoFAB Culinary Library and Archive
and donate them so that all of the city’s
culinary students can use them. Drop
them at 1609 O.C. Haley Blvd between
11 and 5 on weekdays or email info@
southernfood.orgfor a special pick-up.
Your donation is tax-deductible.
I
was in Sicily walking around the streets
of Palermo. Everywhere I looked I
saw the signs in small bakeries for
muffulettas. Those familiar round loaves
of bread covered with sesame seeds and
sometimes fennel seeds were just regular
loaves of bread there, but I loved seeing
them. I loved it that so many familiar names
you hear in Louisiana are the names of the
towns in Sicily. Sandwiches on bread –—
not muffuletta loaves — but made thick
with various salumi, were also easy to come
by. And the salumi was glorious. Besides
the prosciutto di Parma or San Daniele
which is a cured raw ham or crudo, there is
soppressota, salami, mortadella, and more.
Those sandwiches also were layered with
cheeses. They were moistened with olive
oil and pressed under a weight. They were
prepared ahead of time and just waiting for
the buyer to make a choice.
In the mid-1880s when Sicilians began to
immigrate to New Orleans they began to
influence the food of the city. They farmed,
sold food in the stalls of the French Market,
worked on the river, and opened restaurants
and stores. They introduced a tomato sauce,
whose Creole version is now red gravy.
They opened snowball stands that made
that treat ubiquitous in the city. They had
all of New Orleans stuffing vegetables with
bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. And
like so many immigrants they continued
to practice many culinary habits from
home. Those Sicilians who labored in the
French Market and along the Mississippi
River could pick up a sandwich for lunch
made on a muffuletta loaf that was a taste
of home. Adding olive salad, a tasty way to
use up broken olives and further stretched
with carrots and cauliflower, gave a flavor
punch to the sandwich. Central Grocery
on Decatur Street claims to have invented
the sandwich when customers ordered
the ingredients but did not eat them as a
sandwich. Perhaps they first introduced it or
first innovated with olive salad. Regardless,
soon it was available at other Italian delis in
the French Quarter. And soon everyone in
New Orleans was eating them. Who could
blame them? Those are tasty sandwiches.
And of course, the sandwich took the name
of the loaf.
In Italy there are lots of variations
to the sandwich. Fresh basil leaves
give the sandwich a lot of punch and
brightness. Adding roasted red peppers is
a classic addition. Some people have their
Muffulettas dressed like a poor boy. People
heat them and let the cheese and oils warm
the bread. And mini versions are a great
way to enjoy the taste without eating the
whole sandwich.
The most controversial thing about the
muffuletta is the spelling. Central Grocery
asserts muffuletta. Many people spell it
“muffaletta” or even “muffalotta” (Rouses
spells it “muffaletta”). Any sandwich that
inspires its own marching dance group
deserves multiple spellings. I do not believe
that a standard spelling can be established,
especially in English. (Remember the word
is from the Sicilian dialect that does not
have a standard spelling.) All you can do is
draw a line and choose a side. Any way you
spell it, it’s still delicious.
Muffulettas, Muffalettas
by
LizWilliams,
President &Director, Southern Food&BeverageMuseum
+
photos by
Frank Aymami
Donald Rouse and Rusty Perrone at Rouses Markets
in Saraland, AL. Perronne & Sons supplies us with un
sacco di elementi italiani (a lot of Italian items.)