Well this post is long overdue!
We had a Superbowl party. And by Superbowl party I mean an excuse to have friends over and do some cooking. I had the standard requests for stuff I have posted here previously, and did all that. But, I also like to have something from where the game is being played. In this case Miami. Miami has a large Cuban population, so my mojitos made by the pitcher were served. But one of the most popular items is the Cubano sandwich. I went online and found that everyone makes it their own way. With that in mind I decided to have my own go at this popular sandwich.
So first, I roasted a pork loin. I did this the day before the game. I rubbed it with a mixture of salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. I placed it in a baking dish and added 1 can of beef broth. Then i took frozen ginger root and grated it over the top. I roasted this in a 350 degree oven until it was 160 degree inside. I took it out of the oven and let it cool a bit, then I removed it from the baking dish, put it in a ziplock back and placed it in the refrigerator.
I went to the store and got fresh baked Italian Ciabatta, I do not have a local Cuban bakery so this would substitute for Cuban bread. Then I picked up Gruyere cheese, dill pickles (stackers) and some Guldens Brown Mustard.
Before our guests started arriving, I sliced the cold pork loin as thin as I could by hand. I sliced the bread lengthwise and spread mustard on both sides. Then, using a cheese pull, I sliced the cheese into strips. Now I was ready to build the sandwich.
I assembled the sandwich in this order from the bottom:
- Bottom piece of bread with mustard on it
- Sliced roasted pork loin, chilled
- Stackers dill pickles
- Sliced gruyere cheese
- Top piece of bread with mustard on it
Here is the end product:
Just slice this sandwich up into serving sizes and enjoy. We sure enjoyed it!
We ended up eating 1 and a half of these during the game, and the leftovers did not make it through the week.
And for those of you wondering a traditional Cubano sandwich is on Cuban bread, is sliced ham and sliced roasted pork with mustard, swiss cheese and pickles. I saw recipes with melted mozzarella, a variety of breads, etc. So I just left the ham out, upgraded the cheese, made sure to use a mustard that would stand up to the other ingredients, and went with the best bread I could find locally. It was great.
