Super Bowl matchup: Have a winning time with sandwiches, soups and munchies

The usual Super Bowl bash is likely to include nachos, wings, chili or pizza.

But if you'd like a menu to reflect the matchup of teams, you've got the battle of the sandwiches.

The muffuletta sandwich is a New Orleans favorite. It's a round loaf of bread nearly as wide as a Frisbee, filled with Italian salami and ham, olive salad, cheese and freshly minced garlic. It was invented in 1906 by Lupo Salvatore, owner of Central Grocery in the Italian Market. The recipe below uses a long loaf of French bread for a party-size group, but you can use the traditional round loaves if you prefer.

For Colts fans, the bun-busting breaded pork tenderloin sandwich is authentic Indiana. Also called the Hoosier sandwich, it's a slice of pork tenderloin, pounded flat, breaded and deep fried, then served on a bun with sandwich toppings.

"The tenderloin usually hangs out from the bun by at least an inch, all the way around, creating a two-fisted dining experience," according to "American Sandwich," by Becky Mercuri. Street vendor Nick Freinstein of Huntington, Ind., is credited with creating it in the early 1900s. The restaurant he founded, Nick's Kitchen, is still in business today.

Super Bowl parties require certain amounts of munchies, dips and dunks. Make a "football field" of guacamole for dipping. Spread the guacamole on a rectangular platter; you can layer the bottom with refried beans or salsa, if desired. Pipe sour cream yard lines from an icing dispenser or from a plastic bag with a corner snipped out. If you want to fancy things up, check the cake-decorating aisle, or a party-supply store, for goal posts, figures of players and so on.

Just remember to keep plastic wrap over the top of the guacamole until serving time. Avocados turn brown when exposed to air, although lime or lemon juice helps somewhat.

For Saints fans, New Orleans gumbo is a hot and hearty alternative to chili, and it can stretch to feed a crowd.

It's also a great do-ahead dish, since it tastes even better the second day, according to Poppy Tooker, the New Orleans cooking teacher who beat chef Bobby Flay in a Food Network gumbo throw-down.

Gumbo usually contains some type of seafood, poultry or small game, along with spicy sausage. After Hurricane Katrina displaced so many New Orleans natives, Tooker came up with a Diaspora Gumbo that calls for a mix-and-match seafood and other ingredients, "depending on availability to obtain ingredients in your evacuation site."

So wherever you live across the United States, you can come up with a satisfactory gumbo.

The biggest challenge is making a roux, which thickens and flavors the gumbo. This is a combination of fat and flour that's cooked, while stirring, until it turns "the color of a Hershey bar," according to Tooker.