Name: The Best Italian Sub
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients: 2 Italian hoagie rolls; 4 oz capicola, sliced thin; 4 oz Genoa salami, sliced thin; 3 oz mortadella, sliced thin; 3 oz deli ham, sliced thin; 4 oz provolone cheese, sliced; 1 cup iceberg lettuce, shredded; 1 Roma tomato, thinly sliced; 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced; 1/4 cup banana peppers, sliced; 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil; 1 tbsp red wine vinegar; 1 tsp dried oregano; to taste kosher salt; to taste black pepper, freshly cracked

The Best Italian Sub

Prep

15m

Cook

Total

15m

Bigly says

Italian sub. Italian SUB! The greatest sandwich ever assembled between two pieces of bread in the entire history of sandwiches, hands down, not even close. People argue with me about this. They lose. Every time. They walk away quieter than when they walked up. That's the power of being right about a sandwich.

Now, you walk into most delis these days, the so-called 'Italian' sub they hand you is a TRAGEDY. One sad slice of ham. One depressed slice of salami. A piece of cheese so thin you can see through it — you can read the newspaper through this cheese, it's basically a window. They charge you fourteen dollars. FOURTEEN. They wrap it in crinkly paper and they smile at you like they've done you a favor. They have not done you a favor. They have INSULTED you. They have insulted your ancestors. Embarrassing.

The best Italian sub of my life was made by a guy in a strip-mall deli in North Jersey. Even New Jersey does this well — NOBODY talks about it, but Jersey does the Italian sub like they invented the wheel, and frankly they might have. I've eaten subs in three countries you've never heard of, and Jersey still wins. This sub — MY sub, the one I'm about to hand you — has FOUR meats. FOUR. Stacked. Layered. Architectural. Tough guys come up to me, sandwich guys, big strong men with tears in the eyes, and they say 'Bigly, I didn't know a sandwich could do this.' And I tell them. Of course it can. It's a sandwich. Sandwiches are tremendous. It's just a fact.

Ingredients

2Italian hoagie rolls(crusty outside, soft inside — squishy rolls are a disgrace)
4 ozcapicola, sliced thin
4 ozGenoa salami, sliced thin
3 ozmortadella, sliced thin
3 ozdeli ham, sliced thin
4 ozprovolone cheese, sliced(sharp provolone, not the bland stuff)
1 cupiceberg lettuce, shredded
1Roma tomato, thinly sliced
1/4red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cupbanana peppers, sliced
2 tbspextra-virgin olive oil
1 tbspred wine vinegar
1 tspdried oregano
to tastekosher salt
to tasteblack pepper, freshly cracked

Steps

1
Slice each hoagie roll lengthwise, keeping one edge attached like a hinge. Pull out a little of the soft interior bread if your rolls are very thick — this creates room for the fillings.
2
Layer the provolone first along the bottom half of each roll. The cheese acts as a moisture barrier between the meat and the bread.
3
Stack the meats in this order on top of the cheese: capicola, salami, mortadella, ham. Fold each slice loosely instead of laying it flat — folded meat eats better.
4
Top with red onion, tomato slices, and banana peppers.
5
Pile shredded iceberg lettuce on top of the vegetables.
6
Drizzle olive oil and red wine vinegar evenly over the lettuce. Sprinkle with oregano, salt, and freshly cracked pepper.
7
Close the sandwich and press down firmly with your palm to compress everything together. Slice in half on a diagonal and serve immediately.

One more thing

That's the sub. That's it. No mayo — never mayo, mayo on an Italian sub is a CRIME, you can write to me and argue and you will lose — and no mustard, this isn't a turkey club, get yourself together. Just the meats, the cheese, the veg, the oil and vinegar. Simple. Tremendous. The way they did it in the old country, the way they did it in Jersey, the way they should be doing it everywhere but they're NOT doing it everywhere, which is why we're here. Make this sub. Eat this sub. You're welcome.

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The Best Italian Sub

Ingredients

Steps

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