“THE MAGICAL ANIMAL” Submitted by Lunch’er “Justin”

Simpsons reference. Check. Its exclusive focus on pork products. Double check. I can’t think of a better sandwich to attach the Midtown Lunch name to. We did, however, make one change. Justin’s suggestion called for Prosciutto di Parma, Niman Ranch ham, Porchetta Primata, and provolone… but provolone doesn’t come from a pig (that would be a truly magical pig.) So, we replaced the cheese with Fra’Mani’s Salame Rossa. What can I say? As much I love cheese, I love pork even more- and if you’re going to do it… you might as well go all the way, right?

So congrats to Justin! And for all you pork lovers out there, the “Magical Animal” is available beginning today and costs $8.99. Thanks to everyone for entering!

Murray’s Salami in the Grand Central Terminal Market (Enter on Lexington & 43rd).   212-867-7202

It appears as if all of our sandwich making at Murray’s Salami in the Grand Central Market has gotten noticed. Starting this week, Murray’s is offering a selection of “Lunch Trays” for those interested in making their own sandwiches (but don’t want to gather three friends together to split the bill.) You’ll still have to provide your own bread and condiments, but the lunch trays will feature an assortment of meats and cheese hand picked to make a great sandwich. Here are some of combos already being offered:

• The Italian Job (Prosciutto di Parma, Mortadella, Genoa salame, and Provolone)
• Cubano (Pork loin, Niman Ranch ham, and Swiss Emmenthaler)
• Some Like It Hot (Salumeria Biellese pepperoni, Columbus Calabrese salame, and chorizo)
• The Classic Revisited (Niman Ranch applewood smoked ham, house-roasted turkey, and aged Cabot cheddar)

The packs will run you anywhere from $8 to $9, which admittedly doesn’t leave much room for bread and condiments to get you under the $10 Midtown Lunch price cap… but the packs have over 1/2 pound of meat, so you could easily buy two rolls and get two sandwiches out of it if you wanted.

But here is the best part: Murray’s is offering Midtown Lunch readers the chance to suggest the ingredients for a special “Midtown Lunch” tray, and the lunch’er whose creation gets chosen will win a huge meat platter.  Details after the jump…

Here’s the email I got from Murray’s:

In response to the Murray’s Real Salami “Sandwich Challenge” series of posts, the shop is granting Midtown Lunch its very own meat and cheese tray (“The Midtown Lunch”) — and you’re invited to create it. Just propose a pre-sliced tray of no more than four meats and cheeses, total, from any of Real Salami’s merchandise (except patés — sorry Zach, it’s too difficult to Cryovac with other items). The components should be complementary in a lunchtime sandwich or eaten straight from the tray, and include elements that collectively could be sold for $10 or less (i.e. don’t suggest the Jamon Iberico de Belotta, which retails for $99.99 a pound.) Entries must be in by 5 PM on Friday, December 19th. The winner will receive a custom charcuterie platter that feeds 10-15 people. It will consist of some of the most exciting products sold at the store, including: La Quercia Prosciutto Rossa; Surry Farm, Surryano; Vermont Smoke and Cure Boneless Ham; Creminelli Sopressata; Columbus Felino; Framani Salametto Piccante; Fabriques Delices Venison Pate, Mixed Antipasti; Tracklements Whole Grain Mustard; and Petites Toast Crackers. (Value: $150)

Alright… so you have your marching orders. Submit your suggestions in the comments below. If more than one person suggests the same combo, the comment that was submitted first will be the one eligible for the prize. Please be sure to include your email address in the email field so we have a way of contacting you (your email will not show up on the site). For a list of options, you can go to the store or visit http://www.murrayscheese.com/real_salami.asp

I know my bashing of tourists is wrong (after all, we are all tourists whenever we go somewhere else) but sorry I can’t help it. It comes from working across the street from Rockefeller Center for 3 years, and being forced to walk through Times Square every single night to get home. But yesterday, I spotted this awesome group of Italian tourists in front of Murray’s Salami, in the Grand Central Market (I decided to stop by for a free sample of coppa.) The group had come up with the brilliant idea of buying some bread at Corrado’s Bakery, and combining it with some proscuitto from Murray’s Salami for a midday snack. Genius!!! It only goes to show that great food ideas transcend language and culture… well, that and Italians know how to eat.

Maybe this wasn’t the best day for this post. The Friday after Thanksgiving is quite possibly the biggest sandwich eating day of the year, followed closely by the Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving.  Maybe you’re sick of sandwiches.  Maybe if you look at another sandwich, it’s going to make you puke.  But maybe, just maybe, the mark of a truly great sandwich is one that can still make you salivate, even on the Monday after Thanksgiving.  So, in that spirit- I’m proud to present the Midtown Lunch entry in the Murray’s Salami challenge.

First, let’s get everybody brought up to speed.  A month ago Murray’s Cheese opened up a salami counter in the Grand Central Terminal Market (entrance on Lexington and 43rd). Everything in the market is very expensive, and Murray’s is no exception.  But they’ve got a staggering array of amazing meats and charcuterie from some great purveyors around the country, and for a guy like me that is tough to ignore. Unfortunately, they are prohibited by Grand Central from selling anything that would resemble a “sandwich” or packaged lunch (probably to protect the food court vendors downstairs.)  So, if we were to enjoy the new Murray’s Salami, in a lunchtime form, it was up to us to create our own sandwiches, made from ingredients foraged from the market.  Most importantly, it would have to be under $10 a person. (Spending more than that on lunch, is a crime against humanity… unless it’s an all you can eat buffet- in which case you are allowed to spend a little more.)

Blondie and Brownie weighed in first, followed by Lunch’er Dave, and finally Lunch’er Max. And now, the Midtown Lunch entry, from start to finish.  In all its glory.

Staying under the $10 is easier if you pool your resources with friends.  In other words, the more the merrier.  Not entirely confident in my own sandwich making abilities, I enlisted my friend Dan who loves Italian sandwiches more than what would be considered healthy for any normal human being. 

I sent him to the Murray’s Salami counter, while I got on line next door at Corrado’s Bakery to secure the bread.  If you have 3 people, the ciabatta is the perfect choice.  It was used by 2 out of the 3 other lunchers in the challenge, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.  And don’t worry about the scale in the photos.  It is plenty big enough for 3 sandwiches, and only $4 to boot. There was only one problem: Corrado’s wouldn’t slice it for us.  They could put it through a machine, that would slice it like white bread- but they are not allowed to keep knives behind the counter to slice a loaf of bread to order. Clearly they were prepared to thwart us. Luckily, one of the guys behind the counter at Murray’s overheard me arguing with the lady, and offered to slice our ciabatta for us (score one for Murray’s).  I can’t guarantee that it will work every time, and you may want to ask before you buy the bread- but unless you bring your own knife, or take everything back to your office with you, the challenge may be over before it begins.

With bread taken care of, I rejoined Dan over at Murray’s where we tried a few of the offerings (they will pretty much let you sample whatever you want… score 2 for Murray’s). I put my trust in him, requesting only one thing:  the sandwich must include one of their pates. So that’s where we started, picking up a 1/4 pound of the pheasant pate with figs and pistachios (sorry for making you think I ate a bunny rabbit on Wednesday.  The package was mislabeled.) We followed that up with two other kinds of meats, and then headed over to Ceriello to pick up a few “special ingredients.” 

After buying all of our ingredients, we headed down to the food court to assemble the sandwich. The pheasant pate with figs and pistachios went down on the bread first. Smearing with a plastic knife was tough, but if you’re the type of person already willing to jump through all these hoops just for a sandwich, I’m guessing you won’t mind getting a little messy down in the food court of Grand Central.

We followed the pate with a layer of Salame Rosso, a great product from Northern California recommended to me by a girl in line at Murray’s. The best way to describe it would be “the best mortadella you’ve ever eaten.”  And completely worth the extra money ($5.04 for a little over 1/4 of a pound).

We followed that up with a 1/4 pound of Murray’s own pork loin ($3.25), which was beautifully flavored with rosemary. On it’s own, it may have been a tad bit dry- but the fat laden salame rosso more than made up for it.  And that extra layer of strong flavor turned out to be an excellent choice in such a hefty sandwich.

Then it was time for the cheese.  We thought fresh mozzarella, tomato, and basil was a good idea- but buying each ingredient seperately is way too expensive. Luckily Ceriello (a few stalls away) sold a mozzarella, tomato, and basil stack by the pound. Perfect!  

The one we got was not layered perfectly for our needs (there was only 1 basil slice and 2 tomato slices for 3 mozzarella slices) but maybe you can choose better?  Or maybe one of the people eating with you doesn’t like tomato?  Even with the portion problem, it’s still a good solution.

Looks good enough, right?  Not quite… there was still the issue of olive oil, which everybody agreed would be the perfect topping.  That problem can also be solved at Ceriello, where we got a little bit of artichoke salad. 

That combined with the mozzarella ended up being $9, and added a nice layer of artichokes, roasted red peppers and olive oil. We left the olives out, because they had pits- but they made for a nice little side dish!

Looking at the whole thing assembled, I experienced my first wave of fear. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. Sure the fat guy in me says “pile it on!”  The bigger the better.  But the true food appreciator in me says “Why would you want to waste these beautful and expensive meats, by putting them in a giant loaf of bread, and masking their flavor with prepared salads, and a perfectly average slab of cheese.  But after 2 or 3 bites, that feeling completely disappeared.  This was a damn good sandwich.  Every element did its job perfectly, and the flavors all managed to shine through.  Even the bread worked.  The first couple of bites were kind of tough, but once you pushed it down, and the oils seeped in, the middle of the sandwich was glorious.  There’s obviously no accounting for taste, and everybody has their favorite kinds of meat- but this is a sandwich I can completely recommend without abandon. If you don’t like it, there’s probably something wrong with you- not the sandwich. (Ok, maybe not… but please don’t tell the sandwich I said that.) 

Whether it looks it or not, by the end we were completely stuffed.  Total cost of 3 sandwiches: $26.69. 

Mission Accomplished.

Murray’s Salami, Grand Central Terminal Market (43rd St. & Lex), 212-867-7202

Since we posted about the opening of Murray’s Salami in the Grand Central Market a few weeks ago, a couple of brave souls have stepped up to take the challenge of creating a sandwich made from their top notch meats (and the bread available next door at Carrado Bakery.) The only rule was to keep it under $10 per person (and you could bring as many people as you wanted to increase the number of ingredients you could afford to put in the sandwich.) Well, I couldn’t wait any longer- and yesterday I met couple of friends of mine at the Grand Central Terminal Market to create a monstrosity worthy of the Midtown Lunch name. The full post will go up on Monday, but here’s a sneak peak at the first ingredient that went down onto the bread…

Rabbit Pate with prunes and cognac bitches! That’s right people… we’re not fucking around. I had tempered expectations going into it, but I have to say the ”thing” we made could possibly have been the greatest sandwich ever created.  (And no turkey, so it shouldn’t make you sick to look at the whole thing on Monday… Oh, who am I kidding.  Of course it will make you sick!)

And we have another entry in the Grand Central Terminal Market sandwich challenge.  To recap: can you make an under $10 Midtown Lunch’ish sandwich, or sandwiches, from ingredients purchased from the newly opened Murray’s Salami (and the other shops in the Grand Central Terminal market.)  Blondie and Brownie weighed in first, followed by Lunch’er Dave, and now… Max.

2 of my compatriots and I ventured in the semi-brutal cold to Grand Central Market to try the Murray’s challenge. (We went a little crazy, also picking up 3 pieces of very nice seasonal Murray’s pumpkin cheese cake for dessert, but I am excluding that splurge from the challenge.) We gorged ourselves on speck, mozz, and salami, had a photo shoot and assembly party back @ the office. I think our per capita expenditure will definitely be lower next go round (oh yes!), but this was gooddamn delicious!!

Last week there was a complaint about not being about to get a sense of scale from the photo… so after the jump is a list of ingredients, plus a photo that gives you better perspective of the sandwich size.

1/4 pound of Smoked Speck from Alto Adige, Italia + 1/4 pound of Finocchiona, Tuscan Fennel Salami, $9.50
2 Ripe Tomatoes, $1.60
1 box of fresh basil, $2.99
1 large ciabbata loaf trisected, $3.50
1 large ball of lightly salted mozzerella $7.99
—
TOTAL (with tax) — $27.70; $9.25 per capita

There was also a little question as to why we would even bother with a place like this.  I will admit there are plenty of places where you could make a cold cut sandwich for yourself and spend much less than $10 per person.  But there are two reasons why this is worthwhile…

1) It’s fun.  For anybody who loves food, the Grand Central Terminal market is a pretty sweet place to walk through.  The cheap guy in me cringes at most of the prices, but the fat guy in me finds it hard to stop drooling.  (I have the same reaction at the Dean & Deluca in Soho.)  If we could get a filling lunch out of that place for under $10, why not try?  Your average Boar’s Head deli can’t compare…

2)  Which brings us to point #2.  I like meat. I like dried, cured meat.  Salumi is freaking good… and while sometimes I am the cheapest bastard imaginable, I can appreciate the finer things in life every once in awhile.  So, if we can get a lunch made of splurge worthy items (like high quality speck) and keep it just under $10, that’s more exciting to me then making my own sandwich from ingredients purchased at Food Emporium… even if it’s 1/4 the price.

This isn’t rocket science… just a fat guy who likes to look at sandwich porn, having a little fun.

Photos by Mozar Photography

“A few co-workers and myself hit up [Murray's Salami] for the $10 Sandwich Challenge. For two sandwiches we came in at $20.35 no tax but thats only due to the Murrays cheese lady squeezing us with .3 instead of the requested 1/4 pound. Corrado bakery Loaf of Ciabatta for $4. 1/2 Lb of Murrays Hot Calabrese $7.99. 1/4 Lb of Murrays Salami $3.50. 1/4 Lb of Murrays Gorgonzola Cremificato $4.00.”

And the finished product is after the jump… 

Clearly the gauntlet has been lowered. I will need to hit this place up very very soon (maybe I’ll scope things out this afternoon, when I’m getting my free sample of Jamón Ibérico de Bellota.)

You can see more photos of the sandwich here.

Blondie and Brownie accepted the Murray’s Salami challenge, and proved that you can put together a tasty looking sandwich in the Grand Central Terminal Market for under $10. Ingredients: coppa from the newly opened Murray’s Salami, mozzarella from Murray’s Cheese, and bread from Corrado’s Bakery.  Also, Eater is reporting that if you spend more than $25 at Murray’s Salami, they’ll give you a four pack of Niman Ranch hot dogs.  It may be time to round up three friends, and head over to the Grand Central Terminal Market (entrance on Lexington and 43rd).