00:00Cuban sandwiches are one of the greatest inventions of all time.
00:03The crispy outside and the gooey inside.
00:06Let's make a Cuban.
00:07So we start with the pork.
00:08I'm doing a pork shoulder.
00:09But what makes it so special is the mojo marinade that it is cooked in.
00:14So we're gonna make that first.
00:15This is a really big onion, so I'm just gonna do about a quarter of it.
00:18And throw it in your food processor.
00:19You could also do this in the blender.
00:21You could also just chop it up.
00:22Lots of garlic.
00:23I'm going in with about 15 cloves.
00:26You want about a quarter cup.
00:27Don't use the stuff in the jar.
00:28I'm gonna get that kind of finely chopped first.
00:31And then to that, oranges and limes.
00:34So classically, it's made with like a sour orange.
00:37We don't have that here.
00:38But to kind of create that sour flavor, you balance it out with lime.
00:42I'm doing the juice of three oranges and three limes.
00:45At the end of the day, you want about a cup of orange juice and
00:48about a half a cup of lime juice.
00:50Remember that trick?
00:51In goes the lime.
00:52Couple heaping teaspoons of oregano.
00:55And about a tablespoon of cumin.
00:57Then two teaspoons of kosher salt and two teaspoons of pepper.
01:00Then I'm just gonna blend this up till it's nice and smooth.
01:03And that's our marinade.
01:05Voila.
01:06So far, nothing's been hard.
01:07This is where the flavor magic happens.
01:10You're gonna take your pork shoulder.
01:11And you're gonna trim off the fat because we just don't need it.
01:14Place your pork shoulder into a Dutch oven.
01:16And then you're gonna make like three to four just kind of large cuts in it.
01:20That way the marinade can kind of seep in and around the pork.
01:23That's it.
01:25Put it in your fridge overnight.
01:26And then take the whole pot and stick it in the oven.
01:29325 degrees for the first couple hours.
01:32Then turn it down to 300 for about another two hours.
01:36Let me show you.
01:37Because I did this last night.
01:40So I have one.
01:45You know that looks good.
01:46I didn't want y'all to have to wait a whole day.
01:48I've got to taste this.
01:49Had a dream about it last night.
01:56Mmm.
01:57I'm gonna take the pork out.
01:58And then I'm gonna strain out this liquid because we want some of that just in case.
02:03That's a good piece right there.
02:05So we're just gonna take it right literally off the bone.
02:08I mean the bone just comes right out.
02:11Taste that.
02:12Oh, yeah.
02:13Oh, yeah.
02:14Oh, yeah.
02:15This could make a ton of sandwiches.
02:17Okay.
02:18Once I've got it in big shreds, I'm just gonna take my knife and kind of chop it up.
02:23Just to make it easier to build the sandwich.
02:26Meal prep for the sandwich.
02:27Meal prep for your week.
02:29I'm gonna keep it in the liquid gold.
02:31Because all that citrus flavor is what we want.
02:35Whoo!
02:36Wish y'all could taste it.
02:37Hard part is over.
02:39And it wasn't hard.
02:40The other components to the perfect Cuban.
02:42Cuban bread is special.
02:44If you can't find it, you could just use like French bread or something.
02:49It's a really light loaf of bread, but the inside is still like really soft.
02:53Mustard.
02:54And I'm really gonna ruffle some feathers here in a minute.
02:56Ham from the deli.
02:58Doesn't matter what kind.
02:59Swiss cheese.
03:00And pickles.
03:02Mmm.
03:03If you didn't want to do it like party style, you just want to make a singular sandwich,
03:07you can on whatever bread you want to.
03:09Just make sure it can get crispy on the outside.
03:11So I'm gonna take my bread, just kind of cut off the ends.
03:16And I'm gonna cut it into like this size sandwich.
03:19Okay, and here's how you build.
03:20Slice your bread in half.
03:22And then I'm gonna toast the inside just a little bit to keep anything from getting soggy.
03:27Take a little butter, smear it on.
03:29Alright, and then just into your skillet, your pan's heating up, your bread is toasting.
03:34Then we build.
03:35Bread is toasty.
03:36Okay, I know a Cuban sandwich just has mustard.
03:39But Nicole's Cuban just has a little bit of mayonnaise in there.
03:42It just adds this little bit of richness to the sandwich that I think is delightful.
03:46So don't be telling me mayonnaise doesn't go on there.
03:49It goes on mine.
03:50But it's more mustard than mayonnaise, okay?
03:51So I like to go ahead and mix them together.
03:54And then spread it.
03:55So onto the bottom piece, some of our mayo mustard mixture.
03:59Alright, then I'm putting half of the cheese at this point.
04:03To that, our delicious pork.
04:05On top of that, our ham.
04:07Then the pickles.
04:08Go in this direction because it gives me an opportunity to put an extra one on there.
04:12Then the other half of the cheese.
04:15And then a little more sauce, just a light coating on the top.
04:20Before this becomes a true Cuban, it's gotta get pressed.
04:23But before I do that, let's make our cocktail.
04:28They have everything in here.
04:30I'm gonna just like that fine sugar.
04:32I also wanna see if they have the good rum.
04:34And by they, I mean the Test Kitchen's.
04:39Oh, this smells good.
04:40Let's use this.
04:41Let's make the drink.
04:42For a mojito, take some lime.
04:45You wanna kinda wash the outside because the lime goes straight into your drink.
04:47Into the bottom.
04:48And you're gonna go ahead and add in two teaspoons of sugar.
04:51And the star of the show, five mint leaves.
04:56And then you take your muddler.
04:58You could also use just the bottom of a wooden spoon.
05:00And you start making some juice.
05:03And that lime juice mixes with the sugar.
05:05You're creating just deliciousness down here.
05:08Let the sugar dissolve a bit.
05:10And that's it.
05:11We add in our rum.
05:12A good shot.
05:14Our ice.
05:18And then you top it off with some club soda.
05:21If you like your drinks a little bit sweeter, you could use something like Sprite.
05:27Yeah.
05:30If you just cannot see how refreshing that is.
05:35Oh my god, that is so good.
05:37You know why it's so good?
05:38Because I don't have them like throughout the year at all until the weather changes.
05:42And this is the perfect drink to go with the Cuban because it's so rich.
05:47But this is so refreshing.
05:49Perfect balance.
05:51All right, let's press that Sammy.
05:54Cooking cocktail.
05:55To the bottom of the sandwich, I'm gonna spread a little more butter.
06:00Straight into the skillet.
06:03Then you're gonna use another heavy skillet as your weight.
06:07If you only have one cast iron skillet, then use a different skillet for the bottom.
06:11And use your heavy one to press it down.
06:16So before we flip, you're gonna spread just a little more butter along the top.
06:21And then just flip and press one more time.
06:26They call this the crusty scrape dance.
06:38Oh, that makes me so happy.
06:43Look at that.
06:44Oh my gosh.
06:46It's got it all.
06:50Y'all, that pickle though.
06:52The cheese, the mustard.
06:54The pork, totally worth it to roast it yourself and make it just like this.
07:00I just wanna go to Key West.
07:01This sandwich is not like bread heavy.
07:03You get the best part of the bread, which is the crusty edge.
07:07It's just all about the meat, cheese, and pickles and mustard.
07:11It's so good.
07:13Match made in heaven.
07:14They know what they're doing down there.
07:16I declare this Cuban the sandwich of the year.
07:18You've gotta try it and let me know when you do.
07:21And don't forget the mojito.
07:23Cheers.
07:26This was an A plus.
07:34Okay.
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