Brazilian Mortadella Sandwich: Sanduíche de Mortadela

Provolone cheese originated in the Campania area of Italy, but since that time, it has become popular elsewhere in Italy, as well as in other countries. It melts pretty easily and it is stringy when heated, making provolone a common addition to pizzas. Another option is to use white American cheese, or yellow American cheese, if you're not concerned with the color of the cheese. Mortadella is closely related to bologna, or baloney, as it is more commonly called in the United States. Mortadella is typically made of finely ground pork and mixed with garlic, nutmeg, ground coriander, black peppercorns, pistachio nuts and small pieces of pork fat (the black peppercorns, pistachios and pork fat are easily visible in the finished product, as they are not finely ground). 

I make my sandwich somewhat "smaller" by using 1/3 pound of mortadella, but in Brazil or in Brazilian restaurants outside of Brazil, the sandwiches more commonly contain 1/2 pound of mortadella or more. Yes, these are HUGE sandwiches!  

 

Ingredients (per sandwich):  

1/3 to 1/2 pound of sliced mortadella

1 or 2 teaspoons of oil for frying the meat (peanut oil, olive oil or avocado oil, all are good)

3 or 4 slices provolone cheese

3 pieces of sun dried tomatoes in olive oil  

(recommended, but optional) 1 or 2 tablespoons mayonnaise

(recommended, but optional) 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 

bread roll like a kaiser roll or hoagie roll

Fold slices of the mortadella to make two or three piles of meat (probably good to make two piles if you use 1/3 pound of mortadella, but three piles if you use 1/2 pound). Add oil to a large skillet over medium heat and fry the meat until the outside slice is browned and a bit crispy (the inside slices will heat through, but remain soft); turn and brown other side, but after a short time, add slices of cheese to the top of each pile near the end of cooking; it will begin to melt. Remove meat piles to a plate. Slice open the bread rolls and place them open side down in the skillet. Toast the rolls lightly, and don't worry if they sop up some of the pan drippings from the previously cooked mortadella. Remove the rolls and spread the bottom part with mustard, put one pile of cheese topped mortadella over the mustard covered roll part, add sun dried tomatoes, then add the other pile of cheese topped meat, squeeze on or spoon on some mayonnaise and press the top part of the roll onto the sandwich. Don't forget the napkins.   

 

WORD HISTORY:

Cabin-The ultimate origin of this word is unknown, but Latin had "capanna/cabanna," which meant "hut," and this gave Occitan^ "cabana/cabano" ("hut"), which gave Old French "cabane" ("hut, small house"), and English borrowed the word in the mid 1300s as "cabane," initially meaning "small room on a ship (initially, for use by officers, later, more general for crew members and passengers). This then became "cabin," with the extra meaning, "a roughly constructed small house, typically made of logs." French borrowed the English word as "cabine," meaning "small or compact construction for living quarters, small room for living quarters on a ship, for bathing, or for some other specific purpose; such as, (modern) passenger area of an airplane or a telephone booth." Many other European languages use forms of "cabin," but exactly how they acquired the word is not always clear to me. German has "Kabine" meaning "small room, booth/stand, cubicle, passenger area of a plane," and this seemingly was borrowed in the 1600s from English, as it was initially spelled "Cabbin" in German, but French certainly influenced it further as the spelling changed to "Kabine." Portuguese has "cabine," meaning "compartment, booth, fitting room," and "cabana" meaning "hut, shanty, shed."  

 

^  Occitan is a Latin-based language of the western Mediterranean region, which includes parts of modern Spain, France, Monaco and Italy. It's best known dialect is likely "Provençal," which is spoken in the French Riviera.