[Sca-cooks] grilled Cuban sandwiches?

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Dec 19, 2005, at 2:49 AM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

> We've been talking about grilled cheese sandwiches and I've heard  
> of grilled fish sandwiches, but what is a "grilled Cuban sandwich"?
>
> I know that Cubans are hardly an endangered species in this country  
> and that the government pays a lot of attention to the ones that  
> are here with special privileges and such, but I'm not sure where I  
> would get one here in my area, although they are common in south  
> Florida. Do Cubans add a special spice to a sandwich which isn't  
> available with other varieties? :-) :-)

Nah, ya goon, it's available with other varieties, too, but in the  
homelands of said varieties, they call them Cuban sandwiches. They're  
found all over the Latino portions of the Caribbean (including south  
Florida), and are made on a bread known commonly even among non-Cuban  
Spanish-speakers as Cuban bread, and have a relatively universal  
filling type and method of preparation.

The term Cuban bread (eaten, AFAIK, both in and outside of Cuba)  
refers to a long loaf like a baguette, made without oil or  
shortening, and generally with a lot of yeast, so it rises very  
quickly. There are written recipes for Cuban bread going back to the  
40's or 50's, in which the dough consists of flour, water, salt, and  
active dry yeast (and, I believe, some sugar), is kneaded and formed  
into loaves, and placed into a cold gas or electric oven without any  
significant rise time. The oven is set for a fairly high baking  
temperature, say 400 degrees F. (I'd have to check the details for  
that), and turned on, and by the time the oven has reached that  
temperature the warming bread has started to rise. Oven spring from  
steam building up in the bubbles in the dough helps inflate it  
further, and by the time the loaf is done it's light in texture and  
has a good, crisp crust.

If Bear weren't alive and well, I'm sure he'd be turning over in his  
grave ;-).

It's yeasty-tasting and has a very short shelf life (unlike some of  
the French breads that are at their best in the third or fourth day),  
but hot from the oven it's excellent, and it's also pretty sublime  
when toasted, as is the case with the traditional sandwich made with  
this bread.

So, a Cuban sandwich tends to contain thinly-sliced roast pork (the  
flavorful, rather garlicky stuff often favored in Latino countries --  
I know I've posted a recipe here more than once), sometimes augmented  
with paper-thin slices of ham and/or a hard Genoa-type salami or  
sopressata. Wieners in the US sometimes use turkey and ham, but if  
really good pork is available it can stand on its own. You split the  
loaf, add small amounts of butter, mustard and mayo, your sliced pork  
and other meats, if used, along with a sliced Swiss cheese such as  
Gruyere or Emmenthaler, and dill pickle slices, and close it up. This  
is then toasted in a hinged, two-piece grill/press device (at home I  
use two iron frying pans nested together), until the sandwich is hot,  
golden brown and crispy, moist and steamy in the middle, and the  
cheese melted. By the time all this is done, your sandwich, which  
started out about four or five inches high, is about an inch-and-a  
half or two inches thick, looking a bit compressed because it _is_.

Some people then open it up again and insert lettuce and tomato  
before eating; I find this is gilding the lily.

This sandwich is a lunch staple in restaurants catering to Cubans,  
Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and other groups, and in my experience, a  
good one the size of your forearm costs maybe $3.50 if you go to the  
right place.

Adamantius


"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them  
eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04