Oakland, September 3, 2010 —
DOWN IN THE East Bay again for various reasons. Lunch was a deli sandwich, my very favorite: galantina and mortadella, lettuce, buttered ciabatta roll. There's something perfect about this sandwich. I can't elevate it to the Hundred Plates, I guess — it's only a deli sandwich — but the sweetness of the butter and the meat, the textures of the galantina and the bread, the crisp note of the lettuce — it's just a wonderful sandwich.  |
| Genoa Delicatessen's galantina and mortadella sandwich (click on image to enlarge in new window) |
Alas, galantina's not so easily found any more. It's defined on one website as "an Italian style chopped-ham luncheon meat": not terribly informative. What we get in the Bay Area is apt to come from Molinari and Sons, who refer to it as "a delicious course-ground pork loaf, spiced with wine and pistachio nuts." Lindsey doesn't like it, complaining that it's gristly: but I like a discreet amount of gristle, though I'm not your mange-tout tête-de-veau type. I find mortadellas in this country, even Molinari's, just a little bland; the galantina points it up a bit. And butter's the only logical lubricant here: mayo, mustard, pickles, tomato slices all confuse the issue, and raw onions mask the delicate flavors. So give me GML, galantina-mortadella-lettuce, every time; and on buttered bread, please.
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