The Art of the Cuban Sandwich

Rafael Martel has a post touting the best Cuban sandwich as the one from Union City's Mi Tierra restaurant. The restaurant looks strikingly like the old El Artesano which also made a mean pan con lechon. It would sadden me if they went out, but nothing stays the same, including the Cuban Sandwich.

In the early 1960's when there were few Cubans to be found in the NYC area, and no one knew what a Cuban sandwich was, my father would take us to the Broadway Sandwich Shop in Union City which made absolutely the best I've ever had. There was the taste of the garlicky pork in combination with the ham, the counterpoint of the pickles, the thin, crunchy Cuban bread, the crust of which shattered with the first bite. Ah, those were the days.

Over time, even their sandwich changed. As it became more readily available, the pork began to disappear. In fact, it's became a glorified ham sandwich. When I moved to Florida years ago, I was shocked that you could find the Cuban Sandwich everywhere, even the supermarket, the local convenience store, etc... Something was lost in the translation to America.

I was fortunate that my late father was a master at the art of culinary construction. He used to put a substantial amount of pork, some ham, cappaciolo (or salami, if we didn't have the first), Swiss cheese and sour pickles. And they absolutely had to be sour pickles. I swear he put butter, which he said was important, mayo and mustard. I still can't figure out how he slathered all three on two sides of bread, but who knows. Since we didn't have a press, he would toast them on the stove, using two black cast iron skillets. Dad loved to cook, and he loved to eat, and it showed in his food and his girth.

The memories.