Dagwood Stacked Sandwich

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• Pinch Essence, recipe follows
• 10 thick slices white sandwich bread
• 1/4 pound sliced pepperoni
• 1/4 pound thinly sliced Swiss cheese
• 1/2 pound thinly sliced turkey breast
• 1/4 pound thinly sliced provolone
• 1/2 pound thinly sliced roast beef
• 1/4 pound thinly sliced mild Cheddar
• 1/2 pound thinly sliced pastrami
• 1/4 pound thinly sliced pepper jack cheese or Monterey jack if pepper jack is too spicy
• 1/2 pound sliced salami
• 5 pieces thick-cut bacon, cooked crisp and halved
• 1 medium tomato, cut into thin slices (about 5)
• 10 whole green leaf lettuce leaves, washed, patted dry, and stem end removed
• 3 red cherry tomatoes
• 3 small pickle slices
• 3 long metal skewers
• Potato chips, accompaniment

Directions

Combine mayonnaise and mustard in a small bowl. Season with chopped garlic and Essence.

Arrange 5 bread slices on a large cutting board. Spread 2 tablespoons of the mayonnaise mixture evenly on each slice.

Layer the meat and cheeses evenly among the bread slices in this order: pepperoni, Swiss, turkey, provolone, roast beef, cheddar, pastrami, pepper jack, and salami. (Fold the meats so that the sandwiches will stack evenly on top of each other.) Top each of the sandwiches with tomato slices and the remaining bread slices.

Spread about 1 tablespoon of the mayonnaise mixture on top of each sandwich and lay 2 bacon halves on top of each sandwich.

Place 1 cherry tomato and 1 pickle slice through each skewer.

Carefully build the Dagwood Sandwich by stacking all 5 sandwiches on top of each other. Separate the sandwiches by placing 2 lettuce leaves in between.

To keep the sandwich tower from falling over, fit the skewers into the sandwich tower all the way through the center. To serve, pull off the desired amount of bread, meat and cheese, and serve with potato chips on the side.

Emeril's ESSENCE Creole Seasoning (also referred to as Bayou Blast):

2 1/2 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

Yield: 2/3 cup

Recipe from "New New Orleans Cooking", by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch

Published by William and Morrow, 1993.