Durham Delicatessan Italian Hoagie Sandwich - Video Review

Durham Deli in Bristol, Pennsylvania, knows how to build an Italian Deli Sandwich. Locals call this sandwich a Hoagie. Click here, to see how I make my version. And, scroll to the blog post end to see my Cheap$kate Dining Review.

I always get their Italian Hoagie which is loaded with deli meats including, Peppered Ham, Capicola, and Genoa Salami. You get a choice of cheese - I always get Provolone. 

They put a salad on the Hoagie of sliced tomato and Iceburg lettuce, pickles, onion, and sweet and spicy peppers. I like oil and vinegar, but sometimes ask for mayo, too. 

And this Hoagie costs only $7.10 for a small, eight inch long. sandwich. Subway, eat your heart out. I've often made 2 meals out of this small Hoagie.

This sandwich by Durham Deli is so stuffed it's impossible to close. When you get it home and unwrap it. The ingredients burst out of the Italian roll - this Hoagie will not be contained!

The Durham Deli Hoagie was ranked as First Place in the Best Hoagie catagory of 2020 by the local newspaper, Courier Times. 

Durham Deli is a small market with a deli in the back as wide as the store. You walk up to the deli counter and wait to place your order. 

The sandwich makers are fast and friendly. The deli meats and cheese are sliced to order. Small bins hold the sliced or chopped veggies and pickled peppers.

 Click on any photo to see larger.

They run an efficient deli shop here. All the sandwiches are served cold - no cheesesteaks or hot meatball sammies. I've tried the Roast Beef and Pastrami Sandwiches, and they are delishly pilled high. They have a special with Coleslaw, highly recommended. Of course, they will make your sandwich any way you like.

The bread roll is soft inside, and chewy on the outside. It's not a hard crust exterior. My wife was told the bread roll is made by Aversa's Italian Bakery out of South New Jersy. The bread roll is sturdy enough to hold all the wet ingredients like tomato, oil and vinegar, mayo, mustard, and damp, sweet and hot peppers.

This sandwich is bascially an Italian Antipasto Salad in a split Italian bread roll.

Red Peppers are sweet and Yellow Peppers are spicy. Both are pickled with a sour note. The Yellow Peppers are mild in spice heat, way less hor than a jalepeno.

A normal Hoagie, or Italian Sub, may have one sliced layer of each deli meat, not here. The meat portion is double-stacked. 

The Peppered Ham is smoky with a mild black pepper bite. Capicola is rich, herbal, and tender. Genoa Salami is garlicy with an intense cured pork flavor. Provolone cheese is mild and buttery. The Italian Hoagie is a tasty combination of deli meats and cheese. 

The stacking of a Hoagie is usually meat and cheese on the bottom, and veggies on top, depending on the sandwich maker's preference. I've had them with pickles and peppers on the bottom, which makes the sandwich less top-heavy and easier to eat.

Some may complain about the Durham Deli Hoagies being sloppy and messy. Don't know how you would make a loaded Italian Hoagie neatly? Counting all the pickled and fresh veggie ingredients, there is no way to make it neat. A tidy Hoagie would have half the ingredients. 

Give me a fork and extra napkins any day. It's a Hoagie masterpiece that Leonardo da Vinci would have the Mona Lisa cradle in her arms. 

So, how does the Durham Deli Italian Hoagie rate on my Cheap$kate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best? 

It may be a foregone conclusion, but check out my Cheap$kate video review below. Better yet, when in Bristol, Pennsylvania, make a Durham Deli run for an Italian Hoagie, small or large.

National Hoagie Day - Recipes & Reviews

I learned what a Hoagie is when visiting my wife's family in Philadelphia. Hoagies come from there, and you can get the sandwiches at local bars, delis, and sandwich shops. To see my recipe version, you can scroll to the end of this blog post to see how I make mine. There's no cooking; it's about how you stack it!

Click on any photo to see it larger.

They are composed of cold cuts, deli meats, and cheese (provolone), with a typical sandwich of tomato, onion, and lettuce, drizzled with an oil, dried herb, and vinegar dressing, on a soft Italian-style roll. 

If you like a fast-food Subway Italian B.M.T., Spicy Italian, or a Cold Cut Combo Sandwich, you will like a Hoagie.

Happy Hour Hoagie

Check out my slideshow below to visit Happy Hour Tavern in Levittown, Pennsylvania, for my first real local Hoagie. The bar is attached to Dale's Deli. Of course, it was a delicious Hoagie Sandwich along with a bag of Charles Chips and a limited-edition Yuengling Hershey's Chocolate Porter beer!

My first Hoagie Sandwich in Levittown, Pennsylvania

Slideshow

I didn't realize it, but growing up, we used to take a Southern version of a Hoagie to school, but we called it a Baloney and Cheese Sandwich. The main difference was that mine was served with plain sliced white bread. I liked mine with the addition of mayo, lettuce, pickle, and tomato. 

The Hoagie is Italian-American in origin at the turn of the 20th Century. A Hoagie is claimed to be the "Official Sandwich of Philadelphia." You can read all about the origins as well as various versions here. A real Hoagie is always served cold, not heated like some Submarine Sandwiches.

Some say the Hoagie is derived from the Tin Pan Alley songwriter and actor Hoagy Carmichael. That's a bit of a stretch, but both came on the scene about the same time.

Two or three deli meats are laid out in a typical Hoagie. The main deli meat is Salami. Other deli meats that can be included are Capicola, Prosciutto, and Pepperoni. 

For cheese, a Hoagie has slices of Provolone cheese. Provolone is a mild soft cheese similar to Mozzarella (a fine alternative cheese) that shows up on your typical pizza.

I once discovered a vegan Provolone a couple of years ago...hmmm, can't say it tasted anything like a normal slice. 

For a Cheap$kate Hoagie Sandwich, you can substitute a meat filling of bologna, ham, and pepperoni -- now those are the cheapest deli cuts.

As for a cheese substitution, use any fave like Monterey Jack, Colby, String Cheese, Cheddar, and even good old American Cheese. 

Check out the meat and cheese list for Hoagies from a great sandwich shop in Philadelphia called Jack's Place.

And here is a slide show of Linda and my visit there, a stop I definitely will make again, next vacation.

 Hoagie Sandwich from Jack's Place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Slideshow

A Hoagie is all about the bread, too. The bread roll is of the Italian variety - a soft roll.

I find that six-inch rolls you get in the bread department of most grocery stores are a similar type of roll. Local Latin markets have a roll called Bolillo. In Louisiana, our French Roll for a Po-Boy is about the same. I'm sure your local bread purveyors have a version that will fill the bill.

Now, hot dog buns and steak rolls are a bit too soft, but I guess they will do in a pinch? Rolls with a crunchy crust are best.

I like my sandwiches with mayo and mustard, but a Hoagie has an Italian Dressing mix of oil, vinegar, and sometimes dried oregano. Just drizzle the Dressing over the inside of the bread and cold cuts.

Lettuce, sliced tomato, and onion complete a Hoagie Sandwich. I've had the sandwich served with yellow vinegary pepperoncini or milder banana peppers, and a bag of salty potato chips.

Wow, this is such a tasty blog post...please excuse me, I'm off to make myself a Hoagie Sandwich right now -- won't you join me? Just follow my Hoagie Sandwich recipe video below and make your own.

Hoagie Sandwich - Recipe Video

Play it here, video runs 3 minutes, 52 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

National Spaghetti Day - Recipes & Reviews

 Twirling spaghetti strands is such a satisfying way to eat. On National Spaghetti Day you can twirl away with my many tasty recipes. Be sure to click on any recipe name to be redirected to the original recipe blog post for all the budget ingredients of yore and yummy details.

I get most of my pasta ingredients from the local Dollar Tree, protein from the bargain bin of Ralphs Supermarket, and veggies from Superior Grocers. My big splurge is a wedge of Parmesan Cheese.

You know how cheap spaghetti is to buy and quick to boil. I like mine al dente, so I shave off a minute or two of the cooking time. My recipes go from creamy to filled with fresh veggies, and tins of seafood.

Start with a basic Tomato Sauce, which is easy to do. You can buy it straight out of the can or make my Easy Tomato Sauce version.

I have a garden with a few fresh herbs like sage, but dried herbs are cheap and tasty enough for me. Other pasta sauce ingredients are the right price, too.

In the second month of my blogging way back in 2007, one of my first cheap$kate meals was Baby Clams & Spaghetti. 

They still sell small packs of Clams at my local Dollar Tree.

I kick the pasta sauce up a notch with the addition of sauteed bacon and some veggies, then finish it off with white wine and the baby clams -- all inexpensive ingredients (you only need a splash of wine - I used to get bottles for 99 cents when I created this recipe over a decade ago!)

I like Canned Sardines, and they add an intense flavor to Spaghetti. Add Canned Sardines at the end to heat through. I like the Sardines in large pieces, so I don't stir the Spaghetti too much, so the fish stays chunky. The recipe is made with Sardines in Tomato Sauce. You can use any budget canned Sardines.

Next, I have to say Pasta all Carbonara is near the top of my Spaghetti recipe list. Swirling bacon, parmesan, and creamy egg yolk through al dente spaghetti is my favorite pasta pastime. 

And my version uses cooked Bacon Bits from a small bag. You can use fresh sauteed bacon or pancetta if you like. 

If you mix the egg yolk into hot pasta the yolk thickens and cooks, maybe not enough to satisfy egg salmonella purist, but so far I have not had a problem. I gotta roll the dice sometimes for this decadent entree.

Mushroom and pasta belong together and my next Spaghetti dish has it all. 

Made with inexpensive sour cream instead of heavy cream, it turned out fine, so give my Creamy Mushrooms and Spaghetti a go.

My Nephew Zak is one hell of a cook working in kitchen joints since high school.

Pine nuts, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, and angel hair pasta or thin spaghetti, and you have the makings of a heck of a pasta dish to show off. Cajun-style Tuscan Primavera Pasta is a mouthful worth seconds.

Look at the Salami I still find it for a dollar and twenty-five cents! So you know I'm gonna come up with some cheap$kate recipes, and Salami & Spaghetti is a winner.

Of course, the recipe is deliciously simple to make by heating a little onion, garlic, and salami, then mixing in the cooked spaghetti with a little pasta water.

 

Pasta with Kale and that's about it. I saute the kale with a little garlic in olive oil.

You can't get creamier than a plate of Fettuccini Alfredo. And this recipe is a ripoff of the Olive Garden. 

All it is is heavy cream, half and half, or whipping cream, anyway you pour it. It is made with fettuccini, but you know it's easy enough to replace with spaghetti.

On the Cheap$kate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best...well, click here to read what a perfect 9 tastes like.

And I got it for a buck. You don't run across Cheap$kale Deals like this these days, so this is a flashback recipe review. Hey, if you have to pay full price, it's still a decent deal.

I used to hate Brussels Sprouts, but now I love them, even mixed into pasta.

Brussels Sprouts in Pasta holds up well when sauteed soft in butter, but you can keep it vegan using olive oil instead.

My next Flashback Deal of the Day gets a high rating, and it's Lean Cuisine again.

You can't get more basic than Spaghetti with Meat Sauce. And it's got the right stuff in it.

It's not a lot, but every bite is spot on...for a cheap frozen meal.

A most decadent Spaghetti entrée is my meaty Pasta all Genovese. It is a wild combination of French Onion Soup and hearty meat sauce. Just cook the heck out of a pile of sliced cheap onions and a budget cut of beef. 

I like beef shank as it braises beautifully. My original recipe finished with penne pasta, but you can use spaghetti, of course.