ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Muffuletta sandwiches are a New Orleans original, courtesy of the Crescent City’s Italian heritage.

It’s simply marinated olive salad, meats and cheeses served on a special round, seed-coated bread.

And it’s simply delicious.

Jerry Szkoruda, owner of Jay’s Marketplace, makes and sells a marinated olive salad that is pretty, pretty, pretty close to the olive salad you get on the Muffuletta at Central Grocery and Deli in New Orleans. (That’s the sandwich’s birthplace.)

Szkoruda also sells the specialty bread for the Muffuletta, straight from Leidenheimer Baking Company in New Orleans.

(That’s where Central Grocery gets it from for like a century now, no lie. This is serious sandwich stuff, man.)

Szkoruda gives us his version of the marinated olive salad, as well as instructions on how to put the rest of the sandwich together.

He also thinks you should not sweat it if you can’t get the bread, or if heaven forbid, you don’t like it.

(I have trouble typing this sentence, as I find it impossible. As a person who has lived less than an hour from New Orleans for a major chunk of my life, it's impossible that you wouldn’t love this bread like you love your own children.)

He says you can substitute French bread or even English Muffins!

Make your own Muffuleta!

Olive Salad

  • 2 cups stuffed Queen olives
  • 2 cups pitted Manzanilla olives
  • 1 cup pitted Kalamata olives
  • 1 cup giardiniera
  • 1/2 cup capers
  • 1/2 cup roasted red peppers
  • 1 tbsp. marjoram
  • 2 tbsp. parsley
  • 2 tbsp. granulated garlic
  • 2 tbsp. onion powder
  • 2 tbsp. black pepper
  • 2 cups pure olive oil
  • 1 or 2 whole pepperoncinis

Directions

  1. Rough chop celery, queen stuffed olives and Manzanilla olives.
  2. Blend ingredients.
  3. Refrigerate 24 hours

Meats and Cheeses

  • 4-5 slices Mortadella
  • 4-5 slices Salami
  • 4-5 slices Ham
  • 4-5 slices Provolone
  • 4-5 slices Swiss

Construction

  1. Layer four to five slices each of meat and cheese on the round bread on one side, and on the other use a slotted spoon to scoop and drain a little olive oil off of the olive salad before spreading evenly.
  2. Close and cut into quarter-slices.

Enjoy!