My mom’s family has a serious obsession with ketchup. When they were little, they all got a bottle of ketchup in their Christmas stocking (there were 10 of them…) so they didn’t need to share. These days they all go out for brunch after Sunday Mass, and when the restaurant stopped carrying Heinz ketchup (gasp!), one of the uncles started bringing a bottle from home to share. This recipe has nothing to do with ketchup, but my mom’s obsession with ketchup is paired with a severe dislike for ketchup’s cousin, mustard. Mustard was barely allowed in the house, and when we were camping or picnicking and Dad asked for some mustard my mom would respond, “why would I bring that crap?” In fact, on the first camping trip with my Dad’s family she didn’t pack any mustard at all – much to their dismay! I think this is one of the reasons that I never liked mustard growing up.
It’s only been the last few years that I’ve started liking the stuff and one of the reasons is the Cuban sandwich. There are a few places in St. Paul that make a damn good Cuban, The Cheeky Monkey, Red Cow and The Muddy Pig. They are pretty simple sandwiches though, so I decided I could try making one at home.
I call this the Cuban-ish sandwich because a typical Cuban has ham, pork, pickles, mustard, and swiss cheese, but I skipped the ham and added onions. I also turned the pickles and onion into more of a relish. The pork, pickles, and mustard make this an aggressively flavored sandwich, and I love it.
Here’s what you need:
I used pulled pork, cooked in the slow cooker. I seasoned a pork shoulder roast (trim the fat off first, a necessary annoying step) with salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, and garlic salt; placed it in a slow cooker with some chicken broth and then let it cook on high for 5 hours or low for 7-8 hours.
When it’s done use two forks to shred the meat so you end up with pulled pork.
For the relish, just chop up a few pickles and about 1/4 of an onion. I used a mixture of hamburger dill slices and dill sandwich slices. Combine the pickles and onion with a pinch of salt and 1-2 tablespoons of pickle juice in a small bowl and let it sit in the fridge for a while (an hour or so).
Cut a ciabatta bun in half, add some pulled pork, top with a spoon full of the relish, drizzle on some mustard, and add a piece of swiss cheese to the top bun.
I toasted each half in the toaster oven and then sandwiched them together, you could also use a panini press.
Enjoy!
- 1 pound pork shoulder roast
- ¼ teaspoon each salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, garlic salt
- ½ cup chicken broth
- ciabatta buns
- spicy brown mustard
- swiss cheese
- ⅛ cup hamburger chip pickles
- 2 dill pickle sandwich slices
- ¼ yellow onion
- Rub the pork shoulder with the salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, and garlic salt mixture.
- Cook the pork shoulder in a slow cooker with the chicken broth on high for 5 hours (or low for 7-8 hours)
- When the pork is done, use two forks to shred it into pulled pork.
- Chop the pickles and onion and combine in a small bowl with a pinch of salt and 1-2 tablespoons of pickle juice. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
- Cut a ciabatta bun in half and top with pulled pork, relish, mustard, and cheese.
- Toast the halves in a toaster oven until the cheese is melted, then sandwich the two halves together.
- Enjoy!
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