Favreau’s Cubanos

Approximately a week ago, I took the SAT in Boise, Idaho. It kept getting canceled in Oregon, so Jo had the ingenious idea of traveling to a Republican state to take the exam, as they would be less likely to cancel it. Doug’s parents decided to accompany us to Boise, and we turned it into a road trip.

As I was pondering what to prepare for this Quarantine Cookin’, I considered our guests. We all know Papa Stan has a soft spot for a classic ham and cheese sandwich – we made fun of it repeatedly when we spent a few weeks in Thailand together, and he opted for a ham and cheese over Tom Yum or Laab. So in honor of him, I decided to prepare the highest form of the ham and cheese sandwich: a cubano. A cubano is essentially a Cuban ham and cheese which originated in early Cuban immigrant communities in Florida, like Tampa and Key West.

This recipe comes from Binging With Babish. For those who don’t know, Binging With Babish is a YouTube channel run by Andrew Rea, who takes dishes from TV, movies, and other forms of media and attempts to replicate them in real life. He’s incredible. These cubanos are from the 2014 movie Chef, starring and directed by Jon Favreau. If you haven’t seen it, you need to right this minute. I’m serious. Stop reading my blog and turn on Chef. It’s on Prime Video. You have no excuse. Come back after you’re done watching the movie.

Did you watch it? Do you now crave beignets and cubanos? Well I can help you with one of those. Let’s get started.

Making cubanos is a multi-step process that involves both preparing a brine and then a marinade. Prep the brine the night before because it is an overnight situation, in order to create flavor all the way through the meat.

We have to chop our herbs, and peel and chop the entire head of garlic, but aside from that everything just goes into a bowl, gets mixed, and poured over our pork shoulder.

The next morning…

Even though we put a lot of effort into that brine, we have to dump it in a yard debris bin and essentially do the entire thing over again for our marinade. Here we go…

Now strap in because not only do we have to peel and crush the entire head of garlic (thanks again, Nana) but I have to zest and juice all 9 of our citrus units.

After adding our liquids and lime carcasses, here’s what we’ve got.

Now it’s time to give a shoulder massage. Get it? Because it’s a pork shoulder? No? Okay then. Moving on.

Our pork sits in our marinade for a few hours in the fridge, and then, at long last, we are ready to finally cook it.

Patiently wait for your pork shoulder while your kitchen slowly fills with the smell of citrus and garlic. After long last, we can finally extract it from the oven.

Doug, with his experience cutting large slabs of meat, steps in.

Okay, so now we have our pork. But we are nowhere near done…

A layer of Swiss cheese and a few thin-sliced pickles round out our sandwich. We butter both sides of the sandwich, and throw it in the panini press.

Here’s our final product:

Repeat several times until you have enough cubanos for six people.

Plate it up all nice with a salad prepared by Jo and a bubble water.

This, simply put, is the best possible version of a ham and cheese sandwich. The fruitiness and the garlickyness of the roast pork contrast beautifully, and add a new dimension to the classic flavors. The bread is nice and crisp, which is crucial because a soft bread would quickly become soggy with the juices from the pork.

This was my first attempt at making a cubano, and they turned out pretty good. But there’s definitely room for improvement. I could work on making the flavors deeper and more complex. Still – given how good they were for my first try, I’ll definitely come back to this. There will be a take 2. I’ll make Jon Favreau proud.