The Hollow Leg Diner: Cuban sandwiches

So, I'm strolling through the meat department at Von's and what should catch my eye? Cheap ham!!! Every so often, Von's will have Farmer John hams on sale for some insanely low price, like 97 or 99 cents/lb. Last week they had whole, bone-in hams on sale and I just couldn't pass them up. I picked up a 22lb ham for just over 20 bucks. As usual, Lupe busted my chops for bringing home another ham, but I paid no mind to her protestations. "We don't have room in the fridge" We just had ham last week" "We had a ham the week before" yada yada yada. Doesn't she understand? 22 pound of ham for 20 bucks! How can I pass that up? I told her; "Don't worry. We'll have your whole family over for a meal and then we won't have to worry about not being able to close the refrigerator door. Jeeeeesh; she worries about such little things all the time.

Invitations went out to Familia Lopez and I cranked up the new BBQ. At some point after the purchase of the ham, I decided that I also needed to buy 10lbs of pork shoulder. With the pork shoulder in hand, it occurred to me that I had the makings for Cuban sandwiches. While I didn't have true Cuban rolls, I did pick up a load of bolillos from Northgate. I just needed Swiss cheese and pickles and I would be set. Fortunately, I had been experimenting with making dill pickles last week, so I had several jars in the fridge. All set and ready to Q.

I used my flavor injector to add some yummy tastiness to both the ham and the pork. I injected mojo criollo into both and then rubbed with same. I loaded the ham and pork onto the BBQ for their long journey to Flavortown. A mix of hickory and maple chunk wood was used for smoke. I even added sugar cane at the end for a little Caribbean flavor. Throughout the day I also basted the meat with mojo criollo marinade.

I worked on the side dishes while the meat was smoking. I made a ton of frijole negro in the slow cooker. I started by searing some chunks of heavily spiced pork belly in a cast iron skillet. When these were partially cooked, I removed them from the heat and set aside. I then cooked some thick-cut, lightly cured bacon in the same pan. As I had no smoked ham hocks, the bacon was going to stand in in it's place. The beans (4 cups) went in the slow cooker along with the bacon, a diced red onion, a handful of garlic cloves and 4 or 5 morita chiles. The chiles would provide the heat and, along with the bacon, some smokiness. As usual, chicken stock was used as the cooking liquid. When the beans were nearly done, I added the salt and tossed in the chunks of pork belly to finish cooking.

I had Lupe and her sisters make a large pot of calabacitas to go with the meat. While the calabacitas cooked, I removed the pork from the BBQ and shredded it. We also made some avocado-tomatillo salsa to go with the meal. When everything was ready, we warmed up about a billion corn tortillas.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

We got everybody served with pulled pork tacos, sliced ham, calabacitas and frijoles before I started making the Cuban sandwiches. I had two cast iron pans heating on the stove. In these, I put sliced ham topped with Swiss cheese. I covered the pans to steam and melt the cheese. When the cheese was thoroughly melted onto the ham slices, they were removed and placed onto the bread.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

The bread was spread with yellow and dijon mustard and then pulled pork was piled on top. The homemade pickle was added and then the sandwiches were brushed with spicy melted butter. The sandwiches were returned to the pan and then I used the other hot pan to squash them flat. Who needs a panini press anyways?