Pizza Today - February 2021 - 42

Roasted Eggplant Sandwich from
Tutta Bella in Seattle, WA

as big as their face. I was determined to
stand out, make something incredible and
charge a little extra for the hassle of making a huge hot sandwich while we were
busy with pizzas.

Melter Skelter
The Sandwich: The best way to
find out which hot sandwiches sell is to
steal information from other sandwich
makers. Menus are the open book into
any food establishment. By seeing what
specialty sandwiches other places have on
their menus, you can get a great indication what customers are already buying.
The flip side of this coin is to gauge what
items they don't sell that would make you
stand out from that crowd of pizza/sandwich shops.
Bread: Most food purveyors have
cooked or par-cooked buns, these usually
come in frozen. These buns will cut into
your food cost but may free you up from
the dough labor. We started with precooked buns but realized that .90 cents
each was not sustainable. We now make
our own buns with the same pizza dough
modified with higher hydration, longer
holding time as well as other secrets,
(Message me for that stuff.)
Intertwine your Menu: The best
way to make your sandwiches sing
without driving yourself nuts is to use
your existing food. Chicken, salami, pepperoni, ham, shredded cheese, tomato,
sausage, banana peppers, jalapeño's, beef,
and meatballs are all great hot sandwich
toppings. Wing sauce, Ranch, pestos,
4 2 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / F E B R UA R Y 2 0 2 1

Gorgonzola, feta, Asiago, sliced provolone
and even your proprietary pizza sauce are
great finishes.
Infrastructure: What ovens are you
going to make this hot sandwich with?
Conveyors are good for consistency, especially when you have an oven staff that is
less trained. Unfortunately, the adjustable
entry and exit slots may only accommodate two inches for pizzas. You may have
to adjust these (which will release more
hot air into your pizzeria). Deck ovens
without timers will place the baking process in the hands of your oven staff. This
can raise consistency issues as these decks
can burn the bottoms of buns while not
melting the top cheese.
Other New Equipment: Your
entry into the hot sandwich market may
depend upon what your new equipment
is. Panini sandwiches are popular with a
certain segment of the population. Fast
is king nowadays. How about using a hot
pot usually used for soups to store a hot
protein such as pulled pork and top the
hot meat right on the bun? Super toasters
can blast a bun and cheese with ease in
just 60 seconds. You will need the room,
the training and the clean-up.

Grinder Finder
By seeking out and grabbing your bit
of sandwich history, you will be able to
connect with your customers past and the
taste profiles that they love. Here are a
few iconic sandwiches from the past and
the regions they are from.
Louisville: The Hot Brown - open
faced with turkey, Mornay sauce (Bé-

chamel or " Alfredo " with Gruyere chese)
topped with tomato and bacon.
New Orleans: Muffuletta - round
bread with cold cuts, melting cheese,
giardiniera and chopped olives.
Omaha: Hot Corned beef, sauerkraut,
swiss cheese and Russian dressing.
Philadelphia: Cheesesteak - seared
thin sliced steak with melted cheese and
optional " wit wiz " and
" wit grilled onions. "
Chicago: Italian Beef - thinly sliced
beef dipped in au jus (gravy) served on
Italian hoagie, served " wet " (dipped) or
with cheese and spicy giardiniera.
Here are a few others that I have found
to be popular in pizza establishments like
mine:
The Italian Meatball: Meatballs,
marinara, mozzarella, provolone and
Parmigiano baked to perfection.
The Italian: Salami, pepperoni, ham,
turkey with cheese (all cooked hot in the
oven) oregano, Italian dressing, mayo
(sometimes) lettuce, pickles and tomato.
The Pesto Chicken: (An ode to Pat
Bruno) Boneless chicken wings tossed in
proprietary basil pesto, provolone, fresh
mozzarella, pizza sauce, Parmigiano and
fresh basil.
Hot Wing Sandwich: Buffalo wing
sauce tossed with chicken, mozzarella,
provolone, gorgonzola, baked in the oven
then topped with Ranch and stabbed
with a sharpened stalk of celery.

A Field Guide to preparing Meatballs
These secrets may save you time, hassles
and ruined meatballs.
1. They need lightness. Ricotta cheese is
perfect for airy meatballs.
2. All meatballs need fat. Ground
chuck is perfect, as well as ground pork
shoulder. Adding fat from charcuterie and
bacon ends is even better so cut, freeze
and save that stuff.
3. Binding them is an art. Just enough
egg and breadcrumbs are the key to keeping it all together. Panko breadcrumbs
soak up and bind better than hard regular
crumbs.
4. The use of 2-3-4-ounce ice cream
scoops helps immensely. Fill these only
once to weigh a ball to specifications,
then just use the scoop for the rest.
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