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Authentic Cuban Medianoche Sandwich Recipe &
Pictures
Please link to my recipe if you repost it online, thanks!
Some of you may ask, why have a recipe for a
Cuban sandwich, and one for a
medianoche? The answer is simple, there is a difference between the
two.
The medianoche (midnight) earns its name from the
time that it was typically eaten. After a night of dancing, the
medianoche is a perfect way to fight off hunger. It's often smaller
than a typical Cuban sandwich, and it is made on a sweeter variety
of bread (typically a yellow egg bread).
On a traditional medianoche, there should not be
any mayonnaise, tomatoes, onions, bell pepper or lettuce. Often
times, one can use leftover meats from the fridge for a medianoche.
In making a good medianoche, remember this. The Roast Pork is what
will make the sandwich, so you can never leave it out.
Medianoche Ingredients:
3 thin slices of ham
3 thin slices roast pork hot or cold (hot, slow roasted pork is best)
3 thin slices of Swiss cheese
3 or 4 slices of pickles
1/3 cut medianoche bread (it has to be sweet yellow egg bread)
You should be using fresh, sweet Cuban bread. If
you don't have access to a bakery that sells medianoche bread, an
alternative is the Jewish Challah egg bread sold at Albertsons.
Or
click here to buy it online from a store I shop at.
Slice the bread open
face so that both halves are still barely connected and spread
mustard on both halves. Add the ham, and then the roasted pork. When in a
hurry, you can use one whole piece of roasted pork. Add your Swiss
cheese and then a few pickle slices. Make sure to spray your
sandwich press with a little butter flavored Pam, or for a tastier
sandwich you can brush some softened butter on the outside of the
bread.
Place the sandwich in a Cuban sandwich press and
press down until the cheese is melted and the bread is slightly hard
to the touch. For those of you without a press, you can also place
the sandwich in a hot skillet and press down on it with a heavy
kitchen object, maybe a baking pan (some, believe it or not, use a
brick wrapped in tin foil when nothing else is available).
For years I've used a Gaunaurd sandwich maker
from the
Cuban Food Market, it has removable plates, and is easy to
clean. Never use a panini grill, they simply don't heat sandwiches
evenly, and a real Cuban doesn't have little lines grilled into it.
When finished, slice the sandwich diagonally across the middle so
that you have two triangle shaped wedges (as seen in the pictures
below). Enjoy!
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Looking for Medianoche Bread?
It's obviously impossible to find a store that
sells medianoche bread outside of Florida.
Here's the good news. There's one website
that actually sells real-deal medianoche bread online,
click here to visit their site. They call it "Midnight
Bread" in their Cuban bread, and the stuff is fantastic. |
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Cuban Sandwich Picture courtesy of
OffTheBroiler.Com
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Pictures of Cuban Sandwiches
I recently
found this article on how a Cuban Sandwich is made over
at the "Off The Broiler" website.
Although their recipe differs
slightly than the one listed above, there's an excellent set of
photos showing how to prepare a Sandwich Cubano.
They also
have a review of a Cuban diner in Miami with great pictures.
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Main Cuban recipe pages:
appetizers
• soups •
main
dishes •
desserts •
drinks
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