How To Make Martha Stewart's Favorite Sandwich

From huge elaborate dinner parties to small bespoke meals, dozens of cookbooks, her own line of home goods and cookware, and simple, incredible baking tips, Martha Stewart can do it all. Despite the fact that her lifestyle may seem unattainable, in practice Martha Stewart strives to make her advice easily replicable by everyone. She aims to create recipes that will never go out of style. Yet it may come as a surprise to the uninitiated that one of her most well-known recipes is a humble ham sandwich. Well, when the ham is the most expensive and most revered ham in the world — Jamón Ibérico de Bellota (Iberian ham), a leg of which can go for $1,000 to $1,500 — maybe it seems a bit more up Martha's alley.

The sandwich, also simply called "The Martha Stewart," consists of a brioche bun, Iberian ham, sliced mozzarella, baby romaine lettuce, Dijon mustard, and Martha's "secret" (but easy to make) red pepper mayo sauce. To make the sandwich, slice the brioche bun in half, spread one half with mustard and one half with red pepper mayo, put a slice of mozzarella on each half; then put a few slices of Iberian ham on the bottom half, top that with the lettuce, and put the whole thing together. Biting through the soft brioche into the layers of varied flavors and textures is a taste to behold. The salty, umami-rich Jamón Ibérico, mixed with the tangy, spicy mustard and sweet mayo serves up a complex, deeply epicurean creation in just a few minutes.

Martha Stewart's famous ham sandwich is easy to make and pretty attainable, if you're willing to splurge. You don't have to get the entire leg of Iberian ham, after all. Jamón Ibérico de Bellota (acorn-fed Iberian ham), also called Pata Negra (black hoof), comes from a specific breed of Spanish pigs that are fed a diet of, primarily, acorns — and some are aged for 36 months or more. This gives the cured ham an intensely deep, unctuous flavor and melt-in-your mouth texture that is unlike any other cured meat. You can buy pre-cut Jamón Ibérico at the grocery or specialty store for about $25 to $30 for a couple of ounces — enough to make two sandwiches, if you're not being overly generous with the portions. But, in a pinch, you can reach for the other delicious sliced Spanish import, serrano ham, for a fraction of the price.

If you don't have any red pepper mayo on hand, the word is out on Martha's "secret" sauce. It's really just one part red pepper relish mixed with three parts mayo. Almost any brioche bun will do, but you want something with a fairly firm, cushy spring to it — not too soft and not too dry. If you're looking for an added kick, try some extra spicy Dijon or even add a few pickled jalapeño slices. Leave it to Martha Stewart to elevate the modest ham sandwich to full gourmet status.