When I envision elegance and sophistication, Stanley Tucci naturally comes to mind. The Emmy Award-winning actor and Conclave star has built just as big a name for himself in the culinary world as he has in show business, writing multiple cookbooks and food-centric memoirs, in addition to hosting the Italian food tour TV show Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy.
Tucci’s expertise in the kitchen often leads him to experiment with gourmet dishes I wouldn’t dare to attempt, such as a roasted stuffed rabbit he recently showcased on social media. Fortunately for people like me who love Italian food and want to cook like Tucci without having to prepare an elaborately stuffed piece of game meat, the actor also shared a simple recipe that anyone can easily recreate at home: an Italian sandwich.
If you envision a hoagie roll piled high with various cured meats and some shredded lettuce, that’s not quite what Tucci has in mind. Instead, he’s making a panino — or as he calls it, a “toastie,” the British term for a pressed and toasted sandwich — with a select few ingredients. Nevertheless, Tucci’s toastie features a careful blend of components that showcases his mastery of flavor combinations. If you’re looking for an easy recipe to make any day of the week, this should definitely be part of your rotation.
What’s in Stanley Tucci’s sandwich?
Tucci’s sandwich starts with the most obvious ingredient: sliced bread. He doesn’t note what kind of bread he’s using, but it looks like a sourdough or a similarly round loaf. Most importantly, he’s using slices of bread that have been cut into even, flat pieces, as opposed to something like a ciabatta, which has a curved top. Flat slices will make it easier to press the sandwich uniformly once it’s on a pan.
After lightly brushing his bread with olive oil, the star fills the sandwich with prosciutto cotto, sliced tomatoes, mozzarella — which he emphasizes must be fresh — and whole leaves of fresh basil, all topped off with a light sprinkle of salt.
You can remove or swap some of these ingredients if they don’t suit your taste, but this combination achieves a nice balance of essential flavors and qualities that you should aim to replicate in a simple sandwich: something refreshing and acidic (tomato), a mild cheese that melts easily (mozzarella), something herbal or aromatic (basil), and a quality meat that packs a flavorful punch.
What is prosciutto cotto?
Tucci refers to the prosciutto cotto he’s using in this sandwich as “ham,” which is an apt way to describe the Italian meat. The prosciutto you’re most likely familiar with is prosciutto crudo, although the term “crudo” is frequently left out of its name. Prosciutto crudo is ham that has been covered in salt and dry-cured over an extended period of time. This curing process makes it safe to eat, but it’s not technically ever cooked. On the other hand, prosciutto cotto is ham that has been cooked, so you’ll notice that it’s lighter in color than its cured counterpart.
“Prosciutto cotto” translates to “cooked ham” in Italian. This meat is often brined prior to cooking, so while it isn’t as salty as its crudo counterpart, it’s still seasoned. After brining, the ham is usually steamed in an oven to ensure its temperature is carefully monitored throughout the cooking process. Prosciutto cotto features a thin ribbon of fat on its edge but generally contains significantly less fat than crudo, as fat is trimmed from the pork leg before cooking.
Why use prosciutto cotto for a sandwich? This product is the perfect balance of salty, mild, and tender, making it ideal as the sandwich’s star. I prefer prosciutto cotto to its American counterpart, deli ham, because it’s very thinly sliced and more tender, so you don’t end up pulling an entire piece of meat out every time you bite into a sandwich.
How does Tucci make his sandwich?
I have great news: You don’t need a panini press to make this sandwich, and Tucci doesn’t use one either. Have your sandwich assembled and ready. You can layer the ingredients in whatever order you like, but I recommend putting the mozzarella closest to a slice of bread so it melts easily. Then, heat a skillet on the stove. Once the skillet is hot, add a drizzle of olive oil to it, then put your sandwich in the pan.
While the panino is toasting, Tucci uses a cast iron grill press to weigh it down, but you can easily improvise if you don’t have one. I recommend grabbing a small cast iron skillet and placing it on top of the sandwich; this will accomplish the same thing. Or you could try a small cake pan, you just may have to apply more pressure to it to get your sandwich to smash down.
As the sandwich turns golden brown and melty, the London-based actor adds a dab of butter to the pan and on top of the bread. Many Italians voiced their concerns in the comments, insisting that only olive oil should be used, but butter adds flavor and promotes browning. Additionally, Tucci refers to this sandwich as a toastie, making it a bit of a British-Italian hybrid.
The only other essential step is to turn the panino multiple times as it cooks. This will ensure that the outside doesn’t toast too quickly and burn as you wait for the cheese inside to melt. Once everything is heated throughout, thoroughly gooey in the center, and golden brown on the outside, cut it in half and enjoy.
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