Your Italian Sub Is Good, But One Simple Technique Makes It 10x Better

One of the best things about an Italian sub is its towering abundance. All of those magnificent deli meats that make a true Italian sub are stacked high with zippy provolone cheese, tomato slices, and iceberg lettuce to truly plentiful effect. But sometimes all that capicola, salami, and pepperoni can actually get stacked so high that one would have to open their jaw painfully wide to manage a decent bite. Scooping your bread before you begin building the rest, however, can create more room for the fillings and make the final product a lot more manageable. If this minor adaptation feels just a little too close to the controversial bagel-scooping that's incited ire in serious carb towns like NYC for years, fuhgeddaboudit. This is the easiest way to a handier sandwich, controversy be damned.

You can scoop your bread as precisely or as rustically as you wish. The easiest way is to slice your Italian loaf lengthwise like you normally would for any sub, hoagie, or grinder (whatever you call your sub sandwich), and then just pull out a portion of its fluffy, white interior with your hands. You want to remove enough to better accommodate at least six or so ingredients before you even consider the condiments and extras like hot peppers. Properly scooped and constructed, your top and bottom bread halves will come closer to touching, with all those tasty fillings fit snuggly in between, making it so much easier to chomp on the sandwich.

The only potential downside to scooping your bread for a better Italian sub (other than a little mild public scorn) is going too deep. You do not want to dig so far that you hit the golden exterior crust on either side. Oil and vinegar are pretty common dressings in this sub, and their liquid consistencies need a little something that can soak them up. You also still want the loaf to perform in familiar, if slightly less pillowy, fashion. Aim to remove about ⅔ of the interior, leaving around a half inch of white crumb to buffer the crust.

Now, this kind of coordinated food waste would be an even worse mistake than digging too far. Fortunately, there's plenty to do with those bread centers, even at a later date. Toss 'em in a resealable plastic freezer bag to make future croutons, bread crumbs, stuffing, or our green bean and tomato panzanella salad. Once you have plenty on hand, you might actually be surprised how many preparations call for leftover or even stale bread. And you get to enjoy an improved Italian sub in the commission of gathering this sometimes forgotten, resourceful little foodstuff.