“I love lamb’s tongue! It’s so unctuous and gelatinous. We poach it in white wine and stock, cool it down, peel it, and fry it up with some flour and panko. That breading is the ‘bread’ in the muffuletta. It’s crispy outside, with a molten hot, gelatinous mouthfeel inside.”
“We take all the ingredients of a muffuletta — provolone cheese, Emmentaler, Black Forest ham, salami, capicola, and bind them together with a jelly made from the ham scraps. It’s salty, dense, meaty, and served cold, to contrast with the hot lamb’s tongue. I think that cold and hot contrast is exciting for your mouth.”
“You need an acid for a thing like this. You’ve got meaty and fatty and rich, and you need that acid. So we make a mayonnaise and not only mix in the capers, which is a classic part of a muffuletta, but also the caper brine.”
“The standard muffuletta salad has these ingredients mixed with capers, but I wanted them for the mayonnaise. And these look very beautiful. Plus, they keep the dish from being confusing. All the separate sections work together really well.”