The Big Super Bowl Sandwich
Super Bowl Sunday is America’s unofficial holiday and like any holiday, certain traditions are peculiar to it: grown men tackling each other, overproduced commercials vying for the spotlight, music provided by a pop star at halftime and a dish that is emblematic of the festivities—the Big Sandwich. It’s a show-stopping mound of bread, cold cuts, cheese and vegetables that may stretch the length of the dining room table and only gets better as the game marches on.
But the well-executed Big Sandwich is about more than just size. It strikes the right balance between the familiar and the inventive, a shareable handheld feast. Chef Thomas Kalb, whose childhood in Iowa informs the Midwestern-influenced menu at his Pasadena restaurant Agnes, suggests making the kind of Scooby Doo sandwich that people can pick at all day. Kalb serves his Tommy Salame sandwich on house-made focaccia, with Italian salami and Spanish riojana cheese, some of which are hard to source. But thankfully, most Big Sandwich core ingredients are available at every supermarket deli counter.
You can serve them individually, but the ultimate presentation is one that stretches the length of the field. Don’t worry, you needn’t find a six-foot roll. Start with a few plush loaves of bread, the French-style rolls that most grocery stores sell in lengths of a foot-and-a-half. Cut the heels off all but the end pieces and line them up as though they were at one time a single roll.
Build the sandwich with a good spread, like spicy mayonnaise (just sriracha or hot sauce mixed lightly with mayo) or dijonnaise (Dijon mustard with mayo). Mortadella (which is basically a high-end bologna that’s loaded with flavor) is a must-have, but roast beef and turkey work too. After tacking on the cold cuts, layer in cheese that doesn’t get too melty from sitting out (aged provolone or even pepper jack).
The sandwich gets interesting with one’s choice of pickles. “I like sports peppers or giardiniera, which offer crunch as well,” says Kalb, who also prefers to top sandwiches with shredded iceberg lettuce and a squirt of vinaigrette. The key is to build thin layers of each ingredient, then press it down a bit to make it stay together. Slice the sandwich into manageable servings and let everyone at the Super Bowl marvel at the Big Sandwich that can be better than the Big Game.
