The Oliver: Reinventing a 50's Colossal Salami Sandwich -- Vintage Cookbook TBT

This week I am going to do something a little different for our Left Chapter occasional "Vintage Cookbook TBT" installment.


While The Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Cooking hails from 1986, it is, in reality, more of a throwback to the cookbooks of the 1950's. It has plenty of standard recipes, but it also has a wide array of truly, deeply awful ones -- such as the Superb Sandwich Loaf!

On the other hand, many of the recipes seem to only need a little tweaking. One of those is the recipe

for a huge party sandwich that, for some reason, they called The Oliver.



While the original sounds good -- and looks good even despite the rather terrible photography that also seems to be decades out of date even in 1986 -- I thought a few changes would make it excellent.

This is the original recipe. 

"The Oliver" in its original form.

Our take: first, take a round French or Portuguese style rustic bread loaf.

Cut the loaf in half and top the bottom half with a thin layer of anchovy paste. Then drizzle some extra virgin olive oil over it. 

Top this with a layer of salami slices followed by another layer of spicy salami slices. I used German style salami and Mexican salami as the spicy element.

Top with a layer of Swiss cheese.

Place this half under the pre-heated broiler until the cheese melts.

Cover this with a layer of crushed pimento stuffed green olives.

Add some chopped green peppers.

Drizzle some EVOO over the top half of the loaf and put it under the broiler for about 3-4 minutes.

Cut the whole loaf into about 6-8 wedges and serve.

A delicious take on a Throwback Thursday recipe!