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Olive Loaf

Lindacakes

By Lindacakes
in Food Traditions & Culture

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Lindacakes

Lindacakes

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Tell me about olive loaf. I've always been curious about it, and I've discovered a deli in my neighborhood that makes really good homemade food. One of the available sandwiches is olive loaf. And I'm thinking, okay, I'm not getting any younger, it's time to try it.

How do you eat an olive loaf sandwich? What kind of bread? What kind of condiments? All I've been able to find out so far is, "The secretary at the workshop used to send me out for olive loaf sandwiches -- olive loaf on rye."

Maybe I need to hear how horrific it is.

Help me.

I like to bake nice things. And then I eat them. Then I can bake some more.

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weinoo

weinoo

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When I was in high school, I worked behind the deli counter for a large supermarket chain on Long Island. I was in various stores over the course of my "career," depending on the need for a good slicer...Island Park, Franklin Square, Malverne, Lawrence, etc. I also worked the fish counter and in the meat department - yes, there were real butchers cutting meat in a supermarket back in "the day."

We sold plenty of olive loaf, along with a product called New England bologna. If my memory serves me correctly, those products were probably from Boar's Head. Anyway, to my taste, olive loaf was quite similar to bologna, but studded with green pimento stuffed olives. Made for a decent sandwich, whether on white, rye or a Kaiser roll. And mustard, please, because if you put mayo on that sandwich, I might have to turn away!

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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ChrisTaylor

ChrisTaylor

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Why not think of stuff you'd get on a chartcuterie/pickle platter? i.e. cured meats, maybe some pickled vegetables, etc. Of course, you could just stick with what I do in restaurants with damn near all breads--a heart attack inducing quantity of expensive French butter. That works.

Mmm ... salty death.

Chris Taylor

Host, eG Forums - ctaylor@egstaff.org

 

I've never met an animal I didn't enjoy with salt and pepper.

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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I'm so envious.

When I lived down in the Valley I shopped at a store with a deli counter where they produced lovely sub sandwiches and a favorite included Olive loaf, pepper loaf, salami, thinly sliced onions, provolone cheese, tomato, dill pickles and leaf lettuce and an Italian dressing.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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LizD518

LizD518

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When I was in high school, I worked behind the deli counter for a large supermarket chain on Long Island. I was in various stores over the course of my "career," depending on the need for a good slicer...Island Park, Franklin Square, Malverne, Lawrence, etc. I also worked the fish counter and in the meat department - yes, there were real butchers cutting meat in a supermarket back in "the day."

We sold plenty of olive loaf, along with a product called New England bologna. If myt memory serves me correctly, those products were probably from Boar's Head. Anyway, to my taste, olive loaf was quite similar to bologna, but studded with green pimento stuffed olives. Made for a decent sandwich, whether on white, rye or a Kaiser roll. And mustard, please, because if you put mayo on that sandwich, I might have to turn away!

I wonder if the "New England bologna" was what we called "veal loaf". Was is square instead of round? I didn't like bologna, but I loved veal loaf. We had it on white bread with mustard and I din't know anyone outside of my family who ate it. We are French-Canadian and I the town where my Mom grew up has a large French-Canadian population so I always thought it was a F-C product.

And my Mom loves olive loaf, but since the rest of us didn't like it she rarely bought it.

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Jenni

Jenni

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You know, I read this post last night and I thought it was a slightly strangely worded post about trying one of those lovely loaves of bread that is studded with olives! Then I came back this morning and I read the replies, and I realised that something strange was going on as the answers didn't quite fit what I was thinking of. And then I re-read the OP. Finally I googled and I know realise that you guys are not talking about bread at all!

Carry on!

My Blog: Rice, Spice and Everything Nice

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weinoo

weinoo

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You know, I read this post last night and I thought it was a slightly strangely worded post about trying one of those lovely loaves of bread that is studded with olives! Then I came back this morning and I read the replies, and I realised that something strange was going on as the answers didn't quite fit what I was thinking of. And then I re-read the OP. Finally I googled and I know realise that you guys are not talking about bread at all!

Carry on!

Exactly - at least not in this thread. But there are indeed two definitions for olive loaf; one being the bread you just described and the other being a luncheon meat.

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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Tri2Cook

Tri2Cook

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I'm going to be the voice of dissent and suggest that the best thing to put on olive loaf is the lid to the trash can.

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

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Lindacakes

Lindacakes

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OK!

So the recipe for Andiesenji's sandwich is in my iPhone and I'll order one at the earliest opportunity.

I'll also get a grilled cheese with olive loaf because that sounds good to me.

But what is pepper loaf?

I like to bake nice things. And then I eat them. Then I can bake some more.

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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OK!

So the recipe for Andiesenji's sandwich is in my iPhone and I'll order one at the earliest opportunity.

I'll also get a grilled cheese with olive loaf because that sounds good to me.

But what is pepper loaf?

Pepper loaf is simply mortadella to which cracked and whole black peppercorns have been added. Sometimes it is also made with pepperoncini or banana peppers, not too spicy. The deli in the old Market Basket store on Sherman Way in Reseda, cooked some of their own lunch meats. They sometimes made the pepper loaf with whole garlic cloves in the mix.

You could always tell the ones made in the store, they were shaped like a loaf of bread, flat on the bottom and round on the top.

It is also something you can make at home in smaller batches. It's not hard if you have a good meat grinder.

The deli would slice the meats very thin and ribbon-fold them several layers deep on the sandwich. It was the kind you had to really mash down to get your mouth around.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Katie Meadow

Katie Meadow

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I don't believe I've ever knowingly eaten olive loaf. If they sold it at Barney Greengrass my parents must have either been clueless or careful to avoid it. I had to google it just to see a picture. Yes, it does look vaguely familiar with pimento-stuffed green olives, so I must have seen it in my peripheral vision once or many times. It seems there are two camps when it comes to nostalgia for olive loaf: those who swear by it on rye with mustard, and then this guy, although since his concussion he may not be very reliable.

http://blogs.poughkeepsiejournal.com/bobmillersmusings/2011/05/29/olive-loaf-anyone/

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tikidoc

tikidoc

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I wonder if the "New England bologna" was what we called "veal loaf". Was is square instead of round? I didn't like bologna, but I loved veal loaf. We had it on white bread with mustard and I din't know anyone outside of my family who ate it. We are French-Canadian and I the town where my Mom grew up has a large French-Canadian population so I always thought it was a F-C product.

Ow, wow, veal loaf, or as my relatives called it "vealoaf", one word. I grew up in Illinois but my extended family was pretty much all in CT and MA. We went on vacation to Martha's Vineyard every summer and stopped to visit in CT on the way, and one of my mom's cousins ran a Polish butcher shop. We loaded up on house made Polish sausages, veal loaf and a grain based sausage called kishka, that my dad loves. I have not heard "veal loaf" in years, and it brings back lots of memories. Sandwiches on good quality soft bread, toasted, with fresh summer tomatoes and mayo. I always associated veal loaf with my Polish relatives. My dad's side of the family is all French Canadian but it was the Polish side that ate the veal loaf.

I guess I would eat olive loaf the same way. Toasted white bread, ripe tomatoes, mayo.

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andiesenji

andiesenji

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Cause of you guys I bought and ate an entire package of Olive Loaf...

So good

You didn't mention what SIZE package... :laugh:

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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