Cuban Sandwich
Ingredients
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- 8 cloves garlic – smashed
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup orange juice – freshly squeezed
- 1/4 cup lime juice – freshly squeezed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 leaves bay leaf
- 2 pounds pork shoulder, boneless (~3 n/a pork shoulders)
- 4 rolls Cuban bread – split lengthwise
- 1/2 cup yellow mustard
- 1 cup dill pickles – thinly sliced (~3.5 n/a dill pickles)
- 12 ounces baked ham – thinly sliced
- 8 slices Swiss cheese
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter – softened
Instructions
1. Make the mojo: In a bowl, mash the garlic with the kosher salt, then stir in the ground cumin, dried oregano, and black pepper. Whisk in the orange juice, lime juice, and olive oil, then add the bay leaves.
2. Marinate the pork: Place the pork shoulder in a nonreactive dish or large zip-top bag and pour the mojo over it, turning to coat. Cover and refrigerate 4–12 hours (8 hours ideal), turning once halfway through.
3. Roast the pork: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Remove the pork from the marinade, wiping off excess and discarding the bay leaves and marinade. Set the pork in a small roasting pan and roast until the center reaches 155–165°F and the exterior is lightly browned, 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours 30 minutes; turn once for even cooking. Rest 15 minutes, then slice the pork very thinly across the grain.
4. Build the sandwiches: Lay the split Cuban bread open. Spread yellow mustard on the cut sides. Layer dill pickles on the bottom halves, then arrange a generous layer of sliced roast pork, followed by baked ham and Swiss cheese. Close the sandwiches.
5. Butter and press: Lightly spread the outsides of each sandwich with the softened unsalted butter. Heat a plancha, panini press, or large skillet over medium-low. Press the sandwiches, using a press or a heavy skillet to weight them, until the bread is crisp and deep golden and the cheese is melted, 3–5 minutes per side; the sandwiches should compress to about one-third of their original height.
6. Serve: Cut each sandwich on the diagonal and serve hot while the bread is crackly and the cheese is molten.
A Cuban Sandwich layers garlicky roast pork with delicate slices of baked ham, nutty Swiss cheese, tangy yellow mustard, and briny dill pickles inside long loaves of Cuban bread. Pressed on a hot plancha until the exterior is crisp and crackling and the interior is hot and melty, each bite balances richness, saltiness, acidity, and crunch. The result is a deeply savory, textural sandwich that eats both hearty and bright, with distinctive citrus-garlic notes from the pork.
The sandwich took shape in early 20th-century Florida among Cuban immigrant communities, especially in Tampa’s Ybor City and later in Miami. Tampa’s long-running version includes Genoa salami, a nod to Italian workers in local cigar factories, while Miami’s omits salami and focuses on the core quintet of bread, pork, ham, cheese, and pickles. Pressing on a plancha and using lard-enriched Cuban bread are hallmarks, and the sandwich has become an enduring emblem of Cuban-American food culture.