What's the deal with sandwiches?
Eggs had their day in the sun, and cereal already made it's splash. Now it's time to celebrate an old standby, the sandw
Got 5 lbs of pork shoulder marinating for cuban-style pork. My first time dealing with that much meat!Luckily the recipe is super simple: orange juice, lime, salt, brown sugar, pepper, bay leaves for the marinade.Tomorrow I'll sear it on all sides, then in the slow cooker. I'll quarter an onion and caramelize so that they are like onion petals.Baguette I can get at trader joes,
That's what she said.
looking forward to the results
might as well try a full cubano if you have the extra rations
so this is the paseos aka un bien recipe from the early 00s or whatever, of which I hope to replicate
key being the pork isn't shredded, is in big chunks. I remember it being a very decadent sandwich. You need a hearty baguette or similar to handle it
i had a friend back in the day who lived across the street from the OG location. I'd buy the sandwich then go to the tiny grocery store nearby for fried potatoes
I'm pretty sure this will turn out great!
Didn't fit at first but searing all the sides loosened her up a bit. Set on high for 8 hours!
about 5 hours later. Here's something I learned: when using random-ass recipes on the internet, CROSS CHECK them.
how this matters is both recipes I had said to go at high for 6-8 hours.
After about three I remembered, hey, this is a slow cooker, not a high cooker, so I looked up prep for pork shoulder in general; Going high works but can make the meat stringy, whereas you can go low and slow for 8-10 hours; I set it to warm, which results in a light simmer.
The bone separated but isn't pulling out yet. Meat is around 169F, recipes say to take it to 205. As I really don't want to overcook it, switched it to low.
TASTE TEST
speared a chunk of piggie, dipped in the juice, added a sprinkle of kosher salt. VERY GOOD!
I think I'll turn it off at around 200. Thanks for sticking around, I need to fry up a mess of onions now.
I bought a baguette from TJ's for two bucks; they had romaine hearts but I don't need that much lettuce
edit: This meat turned two years old in march; i grabbed it on sale randomly for $1/lb so this entire hunk of meat cost like $7. Don't think I'll be able to top that level of value value
note to self: this pork can be made into many sandwiches. just did some youtube searching, thinking about:
caribbean roast: big pork chunks, carmelized onion petals, garlic mayo, pickled sliced jalapenos, romaine leaf lettuce
John's roast pork philly style : provolone, thin sliced pork in gravy, stewed broccoli rabe + chopped red peppers packed in oil
cuban Ybor City style: shredded pork (can use tongs), honey ham, Genoa salami, sliced pickle, swiss, yellow mustard
cuban Miami style: shredded pork, honey ham, dill pickle chips, swiss, mayo. toast in nonstick skillet in butter, put a heavy dutch oven on top to similate panini press. 3-5 mins per side until cheese melts
tacos:
pork chunks, carmelized onions, creamy green sauce
John says you can't slice the meat hot; overnight in fridge, slice next day, warm in gravy.
other observations:
- the meat rendered a shyt-ton of fat; I can't actually taste the gravy itself with a spoon; I'll strain and let the fat set overnight.
- I don't taste any of the orange or lime; oregano is there for sure
- the #1 cuban pork sandwich cuts the pork butt into slices before roasting. They just use lime juice
NAILED IT!
Made a quick sandwich with some meat chunks that broke off. The lettuce adds an unexpected sweetness that helps cut thru the intensely rich pork.
Expert move would be to package the sandwich in paper to keep it together. Thanks for following along, all!
This is why the best (and easiest) method for carnitas is simply letting the meat cook in its own fat on the stove, all day for an entire day. My puerto rican grandma would do this once a month for the whole family. Miss those sundays dearly.
Great stuff, steve! You put in some effort here.
Looks great! I always use the Kenji suggestion for pork shoulder: no thermometer, it's done when you can insert a fork and turn it with no resistance.
I love the cuban roast at un bien a lot. I'd I'd seen this thread and had the right bread probably would have made that today.
Instead cuban sandwich sub rye bread pastrami and dill relish because I was missing bread/ham/too lazy to open new jar of pickles
as you should
and as will i from now until the end of eternity
nothing against the rest of you, but I always rush to open this thread when stabin is the last poster
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