Cooking & Baking
Related: About this forumTotally Non-Traditional Cuban Sandwich Recipe
This week we made something pretty simple! This is a sort of simplified Cuban sandwich we made using some excellent deli ham and an amazing Lachsschinken cured pork that we got from a local producer. Usually the ham would be replaced with something like a roast pork, porchetta, or carnitas sort of situation, and the cured pork would typically be something like a ham, but you could replace it with something like prosciutto, speck, or lachsschinken. The cheese is also pretty non-traditional, as it would normally be something like a gouda or Swiss, and we replaced it with a smoked aged cheddar.
Honestly, go wild with this recipe. There's a sort of magic between the cheese and the pickles, and the nice buttery toasted bun brings it all together. Super delicious, simple, and you don't even need one of those gimmicky sandwich presses, you can just stack pans on top of the sandwich!
FM123
(10,050 posts)Love Cuban Sandwiches! One of the best things about living down here in South FL, hands down.
Depending where I am, its my go to sandwich..never disappoints.
mitch96
(13,817 posts)Up here in Tampa (new digs) that a Cuban is a bit different... Along with the normal ingredients they throw a few slices of SALAMI on it... Not my cup of cafe' cubano but what the heck, what ever floats your boat...
m
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/04/21/151050107/the-cuban-sandwich-crisis-tampa-v-miami-for-the-win
csziggy
(34,120 posts)I grew up going to Ybor City and eating Cuban sandwiches there and eating at the Columbia Restaurant back when Ybor City was full of cigar factories.
I was so excited when some Cubans opened a restaurant up here in Tallahassee but alas, they are Miami Cubans and their sandwiches are completely different than what I remember from my childhood.
I agree with the NPR article you posted - and the ultimate vote - Tampa WINS! They have Ybor City!
As an aside: Mom used to buy real Cuban bread (has to be baked with a palm leaf along the top to make the traditional indentation) and make Cuban sandwiches at home - but they were just not the same as Ybor City ones. She'd add sardines to hers (?!) and Lebanon bologna to ours instead of salami. Wrap in foil to heat, no weights needed.
mitch96
(13,817 posts)Samich that is... 😏
I had a motorcycle riding buddy from Tally.. It seemed like a gastronomic wasteland.. Then again he was into fast food and BBQ...
m
csziggy
(34,120 posts)The decor is amazing - not beautiful but fitting for the place. I actually have not had their Cuban sandwiches - my go to dish there is their chicken and yellow rice.
Personal story about the Columbia Restaurant. Back in the early 1960s my aunt's family from Canada came down for a visit - well before Disney World was even thought of officially. So we took them to Busch Gardens for the day and then to the Columbia for some authentic cuisine. (The kids all ordered spaghetti but that is an aside.)
We had to wait for a large table so rather than stand out front, I wandered around the block. Back then, they had a butcher's shop that sold exotic meats and I was looking at what they had and got into a conversation with one of the men there. When he found out I was with some tourists, he said he'd show me something special. We went back to the front, collected everyone else, then took us past the bar, down some stairs to some private dining rooms.
During Prohibition, those rooms were used by local bigwigs who wanted to have booze. There were separate rooms for ladies and gentlemen, with decor fitting for each sex. That was a pretty cool thing to see as a kid!
I didn't know there was an IKEA in Ybor City! Maybe next time I go to visit my sister, I'll drop by.
mitch96
(13,817 posts)IKEA is just down the street from the Columbia. N22nd and Adamo drive near the big highway spaghetti bowl of exits...DONT GO ON THE WEEKEND it's wall to wall people and a definite super spreader event..
m
csziggy
(34,120 posts)I hate going to Tampa - too much traffic! My sister actually lives in Lutz, north of Tampa, but it's bad there. When I visit, I mostly let her drive.
All the cabinets in my house are IKEA and I like them a lot, especially the fact that I could design my kitchen, bathrooms, and closet myself. But then, 2006/2007, the only IKEA in the Southeast was in Atlanta - and I actually did the entire order over the phone. Ninety minutes of reading out cabinet boxes, parts, and doors. Then another long stretch of the saleslady reading back the order. She got it all perfectly the first time. And they delivered them on time - that's not something you can say about many companies.
mitch96
(13,817 posts)I'm still mulling about and considering if I want to stay here. Fla is ok if you don't hit all the tourist/commuter traffic. I lived in Hollyweird Fla before moving. I was between Ft Laud and Miami and the traffic around town was a lot less.. Forget the turnpike and 95..clusterfudge.
Where to go... where to go... Need to be able to get my Cuban samich though...😊
m
csziggy
(34,120 posts)I'm outside of Tallahassee and during the school and legislative seasons, traffic is bad. The rest of the time it is not terrible but Tallahassee has grown a lot since I got here.
When I bought my farm in 1978, we were twelve miles from city limits. Now we're only five or six miles, depending on which direction you drive. And they paved the road we're on twenty plus years ago so traffic here has increased. But I'm staying where I am and plan to be buried here.
If you like Miami Cuban samiches, there is a great place here for them!
mitch96
(13,817 posts)In Tally said it was also bad during football games. He just did not go into town...
He is just north of I-10...
m
csziggy
(34,120 posts)My first experience with FSU football was my first year here in 1972 when I had my first college car. I'd drive out into the national forest to the stable where I rode and came back to find all kinds of detours to direct people around the stadium. I finally got back to the dorm and was asking what was going on. I was so clueless I had no idea FSU even had a football team, LOL!
The college I'd transferred from was known for its bridge and sailing teams back then. Now they have a basketball team but it is not in any of the conferences as far as I know.
I'm also north of I-10, out Centerville Road.