Tramezzini
Sandwiches from Venetian bacari bars, eaten standing up in the morning and with a spritz in the afternoon. They were invented in the 1920s at Caffè Mulassano in Turin, and the name is attributed to the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, who found the English word sandwich too foreign. Venice gave them their signature shape: a triangle puffed up in the middle like a pillow. The filling is heaped in the centre while the bread's edges stay thin and pressed. The best bread is soft crustless pan carré.
Your own work in that: 10 min.
- Fillings 15 min
- Assembly 10 min
- Chilling 30 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneMake the tuna filling
Flake the drained tuna with a fork and mix with the chopped artichokes, mayonnaise and lemon juice. The filling should be firm, not wet — too much mayonnaise soaks through the soft bread.
Ingredients: 160 g tuna in oil · 4 pcs artichokes in oil · 2 tbsp mayonnaise · ½ pcs lemon
Spread the bread thinly to the edges
Spread each slice with a thin layer of mayonnaise right to the edges. Mayonnaise is not just flavour — it acts as the glue that seals the edges and as a barrier that keeps the filling from soaking the bread.
Ingredients: 8 pcs crustless sandwich bread · 4 tbsp mayonnaise
Thinly, to the edges — mayonnaise is the glue.Heap the filling in the centre
Spoon the filling into a mound in the middle of the slice, leaving a 2 cm border. The secret of the Venetian shape — once closed, the sandwich bulges in the middle and lies flat at the edges.
Ingredients: 160 g tuna in oil · 4 pcs artichokes in oil · 2 tbsp mayonnaise · ½ pcs lemon
A mound in the middle, edges free — the pillow shape.Build the ham and egg version
On other slices lay the lettuce, ham, egg and tomato slices and season. Here too stack higher in the centre than at the edges. Pat the tomato dry so it does not soak the bread.
Ingredients: 100 g cooked ham · 2 pcs hard-boiled eggs · 1 pcs tomato · 4 pcs lettuce · 1 pinch salt
Cover and press the edges
Cover with a second mayonnaise-spread slice and press the edges firmly all round with your fingers so they stick. Leave the middle domed. Pressed edges seal the filling in like a dumpling.
Ingredients: 8 pcs crustless sandwich bread · 4 tbsp mayonnaise
Wrap and chill
Wrap the whole sandwiches tightly in film, lay a damp cloth over them and chill 30 minutes. Crustless bread dries out quickly in the air, and chilled sandwiches cut more cleanly.
Ingredients: 8 pcs crustless sandwich bread · 4 tbsp mayonnaise
Cut on the diagonal
Cut each chilled sandwich on the diagonal with a long sharp knife in one stroke. A blunt knife squashes the soft bread and pushes out the filling. Bars cut them only before serving.
Ingredients: 8 pcs crustless sandwich bread · 4 tbsp mayonnaise
Diagonally, one stroke — a blunt knife squashes it.Serve bar-style
Line the tramezzini up in a row, cut side up, so the filling shows. In Venice they are eaten standing at the bar, with coffee in the morning or a glass of spritz at aperitivo time.
Ingredients: 8 pcs crustless sandwich bread · 4 tbsp mayonnaise
Before you start
Pan carré bread
Italian pan carré for tramezzini is soft, moist and sold in long crustless slices. Ordinary sandwich bread with the crusts cut off and rolled lightly with a pin comes close.
Dozens of fillings
Venetian bars offer dozens: prawns, egg and asparagus, mozzarella and tomato, gorgonzola and walnut. The rule stays the same — plenty of filling in the middle, thin edges.
Hours, not days
Tramezzini are best eaten within a few hours. Wrapped in a damp cloth they last until the afternoon in the fridge. The next day the bread turns spongy and sodden.