Homemade Cuban Sandwich

This Tampa-Style Homemade Cuban Sandwich is a perfect blend of delicious cultures into one amazing sandwich, even better if you can get your hands onto come authentic Cuban Bread! Filled with ham, salami, mojo pork, swiss cheese, and pickles this is one sandwich that is truly irresistible.

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Easy Cuban Sandwich

What makes up a Cuban sandwich?

This should be a straightforward answer but it’s not. Depending on if you are in Tampa or Miami you might have a slightly different version.

Everyone can agree that the best cuban sandwiches are all served on Cuban bread with ham, mojo pork, pickles, Swiss, and mustard.

Where they differ is the salami. Now being that I have spent more time in Tampa than Miami I side with Tampa and put salami on my Cuban sandwich.

So before I get any haters, this is a Tampa Cuban Sandwich Recipe.

Why the salami in Tampa? Most give credit for a large group of Italian immigrants who moved to Tampa, specifically Ybor City. With them they brought salami which led to the addition on the Cuban sandwich.

So here is the recipe I have made based off of Tampa’s influence.

Equipment

For this recipe you will need a way to make a grilled/pressed sandwich. This can be done two ways.

On a griddle/flattop grill/skillet with a cast iron grill press or large heavy pan.

or

With a panini press or George foreman style grill that will press and cook the sandwiches on both sides at once.

I really don’t think either way is ‘better’, it is more about what you have available to you. I personally use a griddle with a Cast Iron Grill Press.

Ingredients

• Cuban or French Bread – See below in the tips & trick section for finding the best cuban or French bread for this sandwich
• Salami – The Ybor City/Tampa influence, if you are a hater just simply leave it off
• Deli Ham – Specifically smoked ham, try not to use anything to sweet like honey ham or it might throw off the flavor
• Mojo Pork – I recommend making my recipe for easy crockpot mojo pork
• Sliced Swiss Cheese – Swiss cheese isn’t just here for the flavor (because it does totally rock), it is also here to help hold the sandwich together
• Dill Sandwich Pickles – I prefer using the longer flat sliced sandwich pickles, just for ease. I also found that if you try to add more than one long line of pickles the flavor tends to take over so I wrote the recipe for that but obviously add more pickles if you would like
• Mayo – Now I found in Ybor City where the Cuban Sandwiches originate that most places didn’t tend to use just yellow mustard on their sandwiches, it was more a ‘secret sauce’ that I am guessing is mayo and dijon or regular mustard combined. And so I played around with a sauce that is equal parts mayo and dijon mustard, this was the absolute hands down best when comparing it to just plain yellow mustard. I have a feeling some people might try to knock me on this one but I am going to stand by it. You will also need extra mayo for spreading on the outside of the sandwich before grilling. This will help get the perfect golden brown crust, you could use butter on the outside if you prefer but if you have never used mayo on the outside of your gilled sandwiches you are seriously missing out
• Dijon Mustard – While some might argue the case for yellow mustard I am going to argue that the dijon mustard tastes so much better in this sandwich

For a complete detailed list of the ingredients continue towards the bottom of the page.

Instructions

Preheat a griddle, skillet, panini press, or george foreman grill to medium.

Mix dijon mustard and mayo together in a small bowl. 

Cut the loaf of bread in half the long way to open up to make the sandwich.

Layer ham, salami, pork, pickles, and cheese on the bottom piece of bread. Slather the dijon/mayo mixture on the inside of top piece of bread, depending on the shape and size of your loaf you might not use it all. 

Add the top piece of bread to the sandwich and using a serated knife carefully cut into 4 pieces to make individual sandwiches. 

With a butter knife slather a thin layer of mayo on outside of the bread on both the top and bottom before cooking.

Using your appliance of choice on medium heat cook sandwiches in batches, one at a time. If using a griddle or skillet without a top use a cast iron press or a heavy skillet to weigh the sandwich down while cooking, cook 2 to 3 minutes then flip weigh down again and cook another 2 to 3 minutes. If using a panini press or george foreman grill that cooks both sides at once you will want to cook the sandwich about 2 to 4 minutes on a medium heat. Sandwiches will be done when the bread is a golden color and slightly crunchy. Serve immediately.

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