Cubano Sandwich

I’ll state up front that I can never make a Cubano sandwich as authentic as the master chefs selling out of food trucks in Florida, but I can build a pretty tasty one that has my kids constantly asking me to make this for them. To do this right, you have to spend a lot of time preparing the ingredients, days in fact. But it will be worth the effort. To start with, I serve my Cubanos on Ciabatta bread that I make myself since I don’t have access to a high quality bakery. And make the pork using a Cuban pork Rub.

There are three steps to making a Cubano; 1) making the meat, 2) making a Cuban Mustard Aioli, and 3) assembling the sandwich.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 lb Pork tenderloin – trimmed
  • 1 lb sliced ham or pancetta
  • 8 tsp relish or diced dill pickles
  • 3 cups Gruyere cheese – sliced – use Jarlesburg if gruyere is unavailable
  • 4 TBL Mayonnaise
  • Pork Rub
    • 1 tsp Paprika – smoked or Spanish
    • 1 tsp Cumin
    • 1 tsp Dry mustard powder
    • 1 tsp Onion powder
    • 1 tsp Celery powder
    • 1 tsp kosher salt
    • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • Cuban Mustard Aioli
    • 0.5 cup Mayonnaise
    • 0.25 cup Dijon mustard
    • 1 Clove garlic – grated
    • 0.5 tsp horseradish – prepared
    • 0.5 tsp Kosher salt
    • 0.5 tsp mustard powder
    • 1 tsp lemon zest
    • Juice from 1/2 lemon

Process

  1. Mise en Place – measure and prepare you ingredients prior to starting.
  2. Buy or bake the bread you will use for the sandwiches. I bake Ciabatta bread into 4″x4″ squares.
  3. Roast the Pork
    1. Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).
    2. Mix pork rub ingredients together in a bowl, then rub all over tenderloin.
    3. Place meat in Dutch oven or other heavy covered making dish and bake until internal temperature is 165 F. (~30 mins).
    4. Set aside to cool and then slice thin
  4. Make the Mustard Aioli
    1. Mix all the ingredients together.
    2. Put in a sealed container in the frig to harmonize. Can make a day in advance.
  5. Assemble the Sandwich
    1. Preheat oven to 400 F (200C)
    2. Fry the ham/pancetta until crisp.
    3. Spread the Aioli on both sides of the sandwich bread.
    4. Starting with the bottom bread, spread relish over Aioli and top with gruyere cheese.
    5. Place ~5 slices of pork (if thinly sliced) on top of cheese covered with 3 slices of ham.
    6. Top ham with slices of cheese.
    7. Place top bread on top and press down to compact the sandwich.
    8. Spread mayo over top piece of bread.
    9. Bake sandwiches until cheese melts, slice and serve
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