We had Cuban sandwiches and many asked for the recipe.
Sándwiches cubanos
An authentic recipe begins with “take a good sized cardboard box, 2 Complete Sunday newspapers, 2 cookie sheets and 6-8 heavy bricks.” Cuban sandwiches are the classic Cuban beach food. The newspaper goes above and below the sandwiches in the cardboard box for insulation. The bricks are to flatten the sandwiches between 2 cookie sheets as you warm them in the oven. You should never make less than 5 or 6 dozen Cuban sandwiches at a time. I know you think you don’t need that many; guess again. Go ahead and delude yourself that you will eat only one and can freeze the rest. (They do freeze well.) They are a quite inexpensive way to feed a very large crowd but labor intensive in the assembly.
Buy a bottle of sour orange marinade (naranja agria by Badia which Stop & Shop usually has) or mojo criollo in the Goya section of a big supermarket or make your own marinade (much better) from 1 Cup of orange juice, the juice of 5 juicy lemons or limes, a whole head of garlic peeled, 2 Tablespoons of sea salt, 2 Tablespoons of oregano and 1 Tablespoon of ground cumin. A quarter of a cup of olive oil should be added to this mixture or per one bottle of the naranja agria or mojo criollo. If you make your own, puree it in the blender and pour it over a 3-4 lb. boneless pork shoulder roast that has been pierced deeply and often with a cooking fork. Marinate this in the fridge for 3 days. Double this to make 6 dozen sandwiches
While you are waiting for the marinade to work its magic: From the Deli section of the supermarket you will need a pound of sliced domestic boiled ham (rectangular if you can), a pound and a half of Land-O-Lakes white cheese, a pound of Genoa hard salami, and a pound of Swiss Cheese (the longest, most rectangular they have). I order finger rolls at my supermarket bakery to pick up on the day I make the sandwiches or I buy 5 or 6 dozen hot dog rolls which are cut sideways, NOT top to bottom. The finger rolls I have to cut myself. I judge the width of a bun by eye and on wax paper make 64 stacks of first ham, then white cheese, then salami, and finally Swiss cheese, all cut about ¾” wide except the salami. Since that is round, I cut it in half. You can bundle these stacks up and keep them in the fridge or freeze them to get them out of your way. This will speed up assembly time by quantums.
On assembly day, Get 6 dozen tears of aluminum foil ready to wrap each sandwich individually. They used to make aluminum foil “Wrappers” which had 50 precut sheets the perfect size. I have not found them again since 2006. However, my skill level does run to tearing aluminum foil into 6 dozen 12” or so sheets so I have come to cope.
Cook the pork in the marinade for 1 ½ hours at 350. Leave it in the oven until it is cool enough to handle. Remove it from the marinade and thin slice it so that you have about 6 dozen slices or slivers. Lay out 6 dozen slices of kosher dill pickle stackers, about 5 jars. I like Vlasic. Drain these on paper towels. If you run short of 6 dozen or the slices are mostly rind, just cut however many you need in half lengthwise and throw away the uglies.
Assemble in batches of however many open buns fit your cookie sheets. This is a good time to have a friend around as a second pair of hands. Combine yellow mustard with mayonnaise in equal quantities in a bowl or use Durkee’s Famous Sauce which is mustard and mayonnaise already combined. Melt 3 sticks of butter. Brush the butter on the open-faced buns then put them under the broiler until they begin to brown.
When a batch is toasted, brush the mustard/mayo mixture on both sides. This waterproofs the bun. Add on your prepared stack of meats and cheese, then the pickle slice, then the pork roast slice, and wrap in foil. Mash the foil wrapped sandwiches flat. (These will keep a day or 2 in the fridge but only if you sleep in front of the fridge to repel pirates. I found this out the hard way.)
On the day you wish to feed the crowd put the sandwiches on end in a crock pot and warm them for about an hour or until they are warm to the touch. To economize on time you can stack them 32 high on a cookie sheet and warm them in a 350 oven for a while. They can be eaten warm, room temperature or cold from the fridge. I prefer them at room temperature. ¡Buen provecho!
