Making a REAL (Italian) sandwich...

[jerseyjay14]

well as some may know, i am a jersey transplant living in massachusettes. for years i have had "italian subs" or "italian grinders" from various sub and pizza shops from all over mass.

and i can't take it anymore.

What they pass off for an italian sub here in mass is a travesty. first of all. there is NO reason for a slice of bologna to be anywhere near my italian sub. likewise with mayonaise. my other pet peeve is ordering a sandwich and getting a giant lettuce leaf in with it.... so i decided to post jerseyjay's italian sub recipe, straight from jersey, for those who may be long suffering as i am.

What you'll need:
- a nice loaf of italian bread. not franch bread, not a store bought bulky roll from the supermarket. but some nice fresh baked italian bread.

- Some sliced deli meats: Hot capacola, proschuitto, pepperoni(the sandwich size), and domestic ham.

- some sliced provolone cheese

- some shredded lettuce. this can easily be done at home by thinly slicing a lettuce head with a large knife.

- some thinly sliced fresh tomatoes

- olive oil and distilled white vinegar

- some fresh black peppter

- some marinated hot and sweet peppers (optional)

directions:
- cut a nice long piece of bread. be generous with the size. then slice in half lengthwise.

- on the bottom piece place 3 slices of domestic ham, followed by 3 slices of proscuitto, 3 slices of capacolla, 4 slices of pepperoni, and 2 slices of the provolone.

- on the top slice plop down a nice big handfull of shredded lettuce and 2 or 3 tomatoe slices. squirt some oil and vinegar out of condiment bottles, add some pepper and cover the lettuce and tomatoe generously. add the marinated pepers if desired. slap the 2 sides together and you've got yourseld a REAL sandwich.

now all we have to do is teach these bostonians how to make some pizza

 

[Andy M.]

We have a local shop in our town that makes their "North Ender" With

North Ender 5.99

Prosciutto, Sweet Capicolla, Pepperoni, Mortadella, Salami & Provolone Cheese


You can choose to add tomato, onion, oil and vinegar, hots, etc.

I prefer to skip the lettuce altogether.


Not half bad!

 

[jerseyjay14]

We have a local shop in our town that makes their "North Ender" With

North Ender 5.99

Prosciutto, Sweet Capicolla, Pepperoni, Mortadella, Salami & Provolone Cheese


You can choose to add tomato, onion, oil and vinegar, hots, etc.

I prefer to skip the lettuce altogether.


Not half bad!

ahh yes, the north end is the saving grace for us... i will definetly check out their waltham location next time im in the area. (i do alot of work there).

It nice having an italian run italian deli. most of the italian deli's in boston are owned and operated by greeks. ... no offense, i love greeks and greek food, but they should stick to what they do best!

 

[Andy M.]

Next time you're in Waltham, check out Dominic's bakery on Main Street. They have a fantastic selection of Italian sandwiches on great Italian breads and they will make sandwiches as you wish. If you go there on a work day at luchtime, be prepared to stand in line. And you should stand in line, it's worth it.

 

[jerseyjay14]

Next time you're in Waltham, check out Dominic's bakery on Main Street. They have a fantastic selection of Italian sandwiches on great Italian breads and they will make sandwiches as you wish. If you go there on a work day at luchtime, be prepared to stand in line. And you should stand in line, it's worth it.

thanks ill check that out as well....

 

[pacanis]

There's a mom and pop's Italian pizza shop that opened up in my town a couple years ago. Rizzo is the owner's name, which I assumed was Italian
They don't even have Italian subs on their menu I said, you know what I want though, right? And they said they would make me something up. What I got was basically the right ingredients, but they came on two slices of bread

I feel for you, JJ.
Thanks for your recipe, but I think I'll skip the shredded lettuce for just a couple pieces, just enough for a little color. Shredded lettuce is for Big Macs

 

[ChefJune]

. most of the italian deli's in boston are owned and operated by greeks. ...

not in the North End! There are a couple of places there that make fantastic Grinders/subs/whatever you want to call them. and NO Bologna other than the "real" Bologna -- Mortadella. Salumeria Italiana is my favorite.

 

[miadonata]

dear jerseyjay14: You can't make good pizza in Boston, not as good as in NYC... the water isn't right... serious. We moved to the deep south years ago and suddenly 30 years of making pizza (I worked in the family pizza place in Brooklyn) went out the window. Finally figured out it's the water down here... plus horrid electric ovens. Same problem for our family that lives in Quincy Mass. Their restaurants tap water is "softened" or something. You have to use "bottled drinking water" to try and get as close as possible to NYC water. Then you have to line your oven shelf with heavy unglazed tiles, preheated for 45 minutes before you slide the pizza on top of them. Still not gonna be as good as a brick oven and fire, but it helps.

 

[justplainbill]

dear jerseyjay14: You can't make good pizza in Boston, not as good as in NYC... the water isn't right... serious. We moved to the deep south years ago and suddenly 30 years of making pizza (I worked in the family pizza place in Brooklyn) went out the window. Finally figured out it's the water down here... plus horrid electric ovens. Same problem for our family that lives in Quincy Mass. Their restaurants tap water is "softened" or something. You have to use "bottled drinking water" to try and get as close as possible to NYC water. Then you have to line your oven shelf with heavy unglazed tiles, preheated for 45 minutes before you slide the pizza on top of them. Still not gonna be as good as a brick oven and fire, but it helps.

How come little if any of the locales in Italy have NYC-like water and much of their pizza is darned good?

 

[jerseyjay14]

How come little if any of the locales in Italy have NYC-like water and much of their pizza is darned good?

i'll take pizza from the north jersey area over the pizza in italy any day of the week. while its still outstanding the pizza i had there just didnt compare to home...

 

[LEFSElover]

A place in Inglewood California years and years ago called Andy's Torpedo sandwiches is my favorite place to remember fondly for a once incredible sammie. Those things were huge and they offered your choice of Italian meats and Italian cheese, your choice, the more ingredients you ordered the price went up. They each had name that denoted what was in there and when you finally got up to the front of the line, you ordered your favorite sans naming all the ingredients.

I was little and they were so big, you had to make two meals out of it, at least I did. My favorite was the Capicolla and Mortadella with provalone, and their signature sauce made the Torpedo. They sold it by the bottle already made up. There wasn't the standard choice of mayo or mustard or worse {?}.
They closed up many years ago and I've never had anything that even comes close. A boyI had a huge crush on in high school used to drive there and then put one on my front porch wrapped in a brown [like flower box with a red bow. I knew when I opened the door and saw that box, I was in for a treat. It was 30 miles one way, he knew the way to a girls heart, or a girl who loved these special torpedo's. It worked every time. He would sometimes say out of nowhere, "let's take a drive today after school." We'd end up in Inglewood where we'd stand in line for his first choice, something way too big and way too complicated.

Thanks for the memory of reliving a special time in my life.