The LA Hot, My Favorite Childhood Sandwich

As far as I know, the “LA Hot Sandwich” (pronounced like the letters L-A) was my mom’s own invention, inspired by the lunches she and my dad used to eat at The Dutch Goose in the 1970s. The Dutch Goose, a Menlo Park sports bar best known for its messy deviled eggs, cold beer, and hearty sandwiches, served a Louisiana Hot: a split, seared Louisiana-style hot sausage on a toasted hoagie roll with lettuce, tomato, and yellow mustard.

Through my teenage years in New York, Saturdays meant trekking from my mom’s apartment on 125th and Riverside down Claremont Ave. to orchestra rehearsals at the Manhattan School of Music on 122nd. Mornings were packed with theory and ear training, afternoons with chamber music, and in between there were a couple hours for lunch. Sometimes it was Ollie’s Noodle Shop on Broadway (I got the lunch special: hot-and-sour soup with kung pao chicken and rice), sometimes a slice of pepperoni and garlic knots from Pizza Town II, or maybe a hot pastrami with on a poppy-seed hard roll from Mama Joy’s.

Other days I’d head home. If no one was there, I’d throw a Swanson chicken pot pie in the oven or make instant curry udon. If my dad was visiting from Boston, he’d engineer some elaborate plan that always ended as a tuna melt. But if my mom was home, that’s when I got her LA Hot.

She started just like at the Goose—split a Louisiana hot sausage and sear it hard in a skillet. But instead of a hoagie roll, she’d sandwich it between two slices of buttered supermarket toast: the soft, sweet kind Europeans may scoff at on internet forums. She’d squirt on some hot brown deli mustard, add a slice of tomato if there was one around, and tuck in a few leaves of iceberg lettuce. I loved how the sausage’s charred edges and salty, spicy juices dressed the lettuce, wilting it just enough while it kept its crunch, like the lettuce in a great BLT.

I still crave that flavor, and I still make the sandwich—though with a few tweaks. I like to caramelize some thinly sliced onions alongside the sausage for sweetness, then melt a slice of cheese (sharp cheddar, American, or Swiss all work) to keep the onions in place and tie the sandwich together, like a good rug for a room. And instead of plain toasted bread, I assemble the sandwich and griddle it slowly in butter, grilled-cheese style, until the outside is crisp and golden.

And here’s what I’ve realized: this little sandwich stirs up not one but two of the internet’s favorite food debates. Is a hot dog a sandwich? And can a grilled cheese include more than just cheese?

My answers:

• No—unless the hot dog or sausage is split lengthwise and laid between slices of bread.

• And yes, absolutely, it can.

Every recipe I publish here is personally tested, tasted, and approved.

What I like about this recipe:

• Splitting and griddling the sauces adds nice char and makes them lay flat inside the melt.

• Toasting the inside of the bread adds structure, flavor, and helps the cheese melt.

• Adding iceberg lettuce to the hot sandwich lets it wilt slightly while still remaining crunchy.

Yield: Makes 1 sandwich

Active Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• Plenty of softened butter

• 2 slices sandwich bread

• 2 slices good melting cheese such as American, young cheddar, Swiss, or Jack

• 1 Louisiana Hot Sausage, split lengthwise but still hinged to remain intact (LA Hots, such as Evergood or Farmer John)

• Half cup thinly sliced onion

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Spicy brown mustard

• A few leaves of iceberg lettuce

Steps:

1. Preheat a skillet over medium-low heat. Spread some softened butter on one side of each of two pieces of sandwich bread. Place in the pan butter-side-down and cook, moving occasionally, until lightly browned. Remove from pan and place on cutting board browned-side-up.

2. Lay the cheese on one of the slices and spread the other with mustard. Meanwhile, lay the sausage cut-side-down into the skillet. If you've got something like a Chef's Press, use it to keep the sausage down. Add the onions to the other side of the skillet and add a little butter. Season the onions with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are softened and lightly browned, about 3 minutes.

3. Remove the onions from the skillet and spread over the mustard-side of the bread. Flip the sausage and char the second side, about 3 minutes longer. Transfer the charred sausage to the bread with the onions and mustard. Close the sandwich and spread the top with butter.

4. Return to skillet, buttered-side-down and cook, swirling it occasionally, until deep goden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Butter the top side and flip the sandwich. Cook until the second side is an even golden brown, about 3 minutes longer, then transfer sandwich to a cutting board. Open the sandwich and add the iceberg, pressing it down slightly to encourage the iceberg to wilt a bit. Cut into triangles and eat.