AI-generated image
Sándwich cubano
Pressed pork and ham sandwich
Cuban sandwich: pressed roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard
This is a pork sandwich. The Cubano was the lunch of cigar workers going between Havana and Tampa, and Miami's Little Havana cafés still press it to order on a hot plancha. Soft Cuban bread is layered with mojo roast pork, boiled ham, Swiss cheese, dill pickles and yellow mustard, then flattened and toasted until the cheese melts and the crust shatters. It is the best use of leftover lechón asado. Drink it with a café cubano. The usual mistake is pressing on too high a heat, which burns the bread before the middle is hot. Chef's tip: butter the outside of the bread, not the inside, and weigh it down with a heavy pan so it crisps evenly.
- Total time
- 20 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 2
Ingredients
- 1 Cuban bread or soft white baguetteabout 40 cm, halved into 2 lengths
- 2 tbsp yellow mustard
- 7 oz roast pork (lechón asado), cookedthinly sliced
- 4 oz cooked hamthinly sliced
- 3 ½ oz Swiss cheesesliced
- 2 dill picklesthinly sliced lengthways
- ⅔ oz buttersoft
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (4)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Split each length of 1 Cuban bread or soft white baguette lengthways. Spread 2 tbsp yellow mustard on both cut sides.
Step 2: Layer the bottom halves with 7 oz roast pork (lechón asado), cooked, 4 oz cooked ham, 3 ½ oz Swiss cheese and 2 dill pickles, in that order, then close the sandwiches.
Step 3: Spread ⅔ oz butter thinly over the outside of the bread, top and bottom.
Step 4: Heat a large frying pan or griddle over a medium-low heat. Put the sandwiches in and press down with a heavy pan (or a foil-wrapped brick).
2 minStep 5: Toast for 3–4 minutes a side, pressing firmly, until the crust is crisp and golden, the sandwich is about half its first height and the cheese has melted. The pork should be steaming hot in the middle.
8 minStep 6: Cut each sandwich in half on the diagonal and serve at once. If your roast pork comes from the fridge, it must have been cooked to at least 145°F and chilled within 2 hours; eat leftovers within 3 days.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 720 kcal
- Protein
- 46 g
- Carbs
- 58 g
- Fat
- 34 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does sándwich cubano take?
- About 20 minutes in total: 10 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 2 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- What can I use instead of butter?
- The same weight of ghee or coconut oil (for frying and most baking).
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Sandwich grecKebab baguette
In Paris, a "grec" is the late-night kebab sandwich named after the Greek-run shops that first sold it in the Latin Quarter. On rue de la Huchette and rue Saint-André-des-Arts near Saint-Michel, students queue after a night out for crusty bread or pitta stuffed with meat shaved from a turning spit, lettuce, tomato and onion, a garlicky white sauce, and, the Paris touch, a handful of fries pushed right inside. This home version marinates chicken thighs in spiced yoghurt, sears them hard and slices them thin, with oven fries. It contains milk, egg (in the mayonnaise) and wheat. Chef's tip: slice the meat thinly across the grain after resting; thick chunks don't feel like a grec.
French
Crema de malangaMalanga root soup
Ask anyone raised in Havana what they were fed when they were ill and the answer is usually crema de malanga: a pale, velvety soup of the starchy root, gently scented with garlic and onion. It is also one of the first foods Cuban babies and grandparents alike are given, because it is soft, mild and filling. The classic mistake is grating raw malanga with bare hands, which can make your skin itch; peel it wearing gloves and rinse it well. Serve it plain or with a few croutons. Chef's tip: blend in the butter at the end rather than frying in it, so the soup tastes clean and creamy rather than heavy.
ZapiekankaOpen baguette with mushrooms and cheese
Zapiekanka is Polish street food born in the 1970s and perfected at the hatch windows around Plac Nowy in Kraków's Kazimierz district, where students and night owls queue for one at midnight. Half a long baguette is topped with mushrooms fried with onion, covered in grated cheese and baked until crisp at the edges and bubbling, then finished with a zigzag of ketchup and chives. The classic version has no meat at all. Use a hard cheese made with vegetarian rennet (many supermarket mild Cheddars and Goudas are). Chef's tip: fry the mushrooms until completely dry before they go on the bread; wet mushrooms make the baguette soggy instead of crisp.
Polish