[0:00] The day that I first had this sandwich, [0:02] I immediately stopped looking for a [0:04] better one. It's the best sandwich I [0:06] ever had. Eight trips to Miami, dozens [0:09] of Kubano sandwiches, and this hidden [0:11] gem, La Solas Cafe, was the only one [0:15] that truly spoke to me. And it wasn't [0:17] just the perfect shredded moho roast [0:20] pork or the salsa verde that they served [0:22] it with, but it was how they served the [0:24] sandwich. They don't cut it in half on [0:26] the bias like a normal Kubano sandwich. [0:28] They cut it lengthwise, long and skinny [0:31] down the middle, and then take those cut [0:33] halves and sear them on the griddle. The [0:36] result is something that eats more like [0:37] a hot dog. And strangely to me, reminds [0:40] me of like a Big Mac. [0:43] >> It's like a hot dog and a Big Mac. [0:44] >> The sandwich is a revelation. And today, [0:46] we're inducting it into Steviey's food [0:48] hall of fame and making it from scratch. [0:51] Real roast moho pork, homemade Cuban [0:54] bread. This is the lass solas kubano. [0:57] The best Cuban sandwich I've ever had. [1:00] Now, a Cuban sandwich consists of six [1:02] ingredients. Cuban bread, moho roast [1:06] pork, ham, mustard, pickle, and Swiss [1:10] cheese. A lot of those things, they're [1:12] taking care of for us. Two things need [1:14] our attention. The roast moho and the [1:17] Cuban bread. And those require being [1:19] prepped in advance. So, let me take you [1:21] back to yesterday. So now to make a [1:23] Cuban bread, like many breads or pizzas, [1:26] we need a starter. And a starter is [1:28] pretty simple. It's basically one part [1:31] water to one part flour, and a little [1:33] bit of yeast. So I have 120 g of water [1:35] here, 120 g of bread flour, and I'm [1:38] going to combine the two into a tall [1:41] container. Now, I've got some instant [1:43] yeast. To make the starter, I'd go with [1:45] about like half a packet of yeast in [1:47] there, which you can do. However, I [1:49] happen to have some starter in the [1:51] fridge already, some leftover. Fed it a [1:53] little bit of flour and water just to [1:54] keep it alive. There's probably like 100 [1:56] grams in here. And so, since we have [1:58] like this active culture already in [2:00] here, we're just going to contribute [2:02] that into our new starter. You can even [2:05] take this residue, add flour and water [2:08] to it. 30 g of flour, 30 g of water, and [2:11] you can make new starter with just that [2:12] residue on the side of the container. [2:15] And then we're just going to mix that up [2:16] together. Going to make sure you get all [2:18] the dry flour at the bottom. It's just [2:20] well combined. What you should be [2:22] looking for is just like a very wet [2:24] dough. We're going to pop a lid on this [2:26] guy. Place it in the fridge at least [2:28] overnight, but you would keep this [2:30] going. Ideally, you just feed it a [2:32] little flour and water every day or when [2:34] it starts to collapse and you could keep [2:37] this going forever essentially. Now, a [2:39] starter isn't the only thing we need to [2:41] get done ahead of time. We need to make [2:43] a beautiful aspect of this recipe which [2:46] is the Moho roast pork or at least the [2:48] marinade for it and get that pork [2:51] marinating early. Overnight is best 2 [2:53] days that works great as well too. So [2:56] the first aspect of the moho is [2:58] generally would be sour orange but we [3:00] don't have that. So we're basically [3:02] going to replicate that by using 2/3 a [3:04] cup of orange juice and then 1/3 a cup [3:07] of lime juice. That with all the spices [3:09] and garlic, some of the best pork you'll [3:12] ever have. Now, based in my experience, [3:14] 2/3 of a cup is going to roughly be [3:18] three oranges. Just going to take my [3:20] fork, poke it, sort of breaking up the [3:22] fibers, allowing me to juice it a little [3:25] bit more thoroughly and easier. Sort of [3:28] rotating it, making sure I just get a [3:30] good yield out of each half. You can [3:32] also [3:34] funny story, the I had to get an MRI on [3:36] my arm the other day. kind of panicking. [3:38] I kind of slightly claustrophobic. Turns [3:41] out the MRI tech was a follower. Great [3:43] guy, Joe. Shout out, Joe. Thank you. [3:46] Made me feel at ease. Was able to get [3:49] the the MRI. No problem. I'm going to [3:51] start taking care of it. All right. So, [3:53] we've got our orange. Then we can do [3:55] this with the limes. Three limes. Three [3:57] oranges works. So, now I've got like [3:59] this little hotel pan. This is what [4:00] we're going to roast the pork in, but [4:02] we're going to marinate it in plastic [4:04] and just kind of hold it in there. So [4:06] going to go in with the orange juice and [4:08] lime to that a/2 cup of olive oil [4:12] roughly. We got our spices. We got some [4:14] oregano, Mexican oregano if you've got, [4:16] but regular is fine. Tablespoon of onion [4:18] powder. Can eyeball it. Tablespoon of [4:20] garlic powder. Teaspoon of coriander. [4:23] Teaspoon of cumin. Some fresh cracked [4:25] black pepper. Bay leaf. Now we got a [4:28] whole shebang of garlic here. Right. [4:29] Going to take a bunch of whole garlic. [4:32] Going to add them in. I'm going to hold [4:34] back some of the larger pieces and then [4:37] I'm going to grate them. Grating in [4:38] about like six cloves. Throwing in [4:41] another six whole. So now we've got our [4:43] marinade. We can just sort of juzj up. [4:45] Here we have a boneless, skinless 4 lb [4:49] pork butt here. This should be enough [4:51] for about four sandwiches. You notice we [4:53] didn't salt the marinade. It's cuz we [4:55] can't control it that way. I like to [4:57] salt the meat itself because salt is not [5:00] a spice. It's an essential thing, right? [5:02] that needs to be dialed in. So, I don't [5:04] really add salt to my marinades, we're [5:06] going to go straight onto the pork. You [5:08] want to be generous. [5:13] So, the way that I kind of go is just [5:15] once it's kind of completely dusted all [5:17] over the place, almost like a frosted [5:19] doughut, that's when I know it's ready. [5:22] So, now we're going to take the pork and [5:24] add it to the bag of marinade. Close it [5:26] up 2/3 of the way and then start to suck [5:29] some of that air out and just rub it [5:31] around. [5:35] lay it down. Then we're going to put it [5:36] in the fridge. And every few hours, I'm [5:39] just going to flip it. Make sure it gets [5:40] nice and uh evenly marinated on all [5:43] sides. Now, all we have to do tomorrow [5:45] is throw some ingredients in the mixer. [5:48] Get a little dough going. Empty this bag [5:51] of plastic into this bin and toss it [5:53] into an oven. You're halfway there. So, [5:55] I'll see you back here tomorrow. All [5:57] right. So, it's the next day. Our pork [5:59] has been just bathing in all of that [6:02] amazing moho. Just going to [6:06] slide that all in. Such a amazing smell. [6:09] Then simply all we've got to do take a [6:12] little parchment and I'm just going to [6:13] cover the top. It's very acidic. Acidity [6:16] and meats in general sometimes just [6:18] don't react well when it touches [6:20] aluminum foil. The parchment's also [6:22] going to steam it, cook it really [6:24] nicely, and protect it from the foil on [6:26] top. You could also do this in like a [6:28] Dutch oven. So now I've got my oven [6:30] preheated 300°. We're going to cook it [6:33] nice and slow for about 4 hours. At [6:35] around 3 hours, we're going to remove [6:37] the top. We're going to put the heat up [6:39] a little bit higher. That's going to [6:41] both brown the meat and prep the oven [6:44] temp for when we ultimately are going to [6:46] bake the Cuban breading, which is what [6:48] we're going to start on now. Now, the [6:51] flour for this recipe, it's going to be [6:53] bread flour. So, I got me some of that [6:55] organic stuff. I actually got a flour [6:57] mill. We're going to start milling our [6:59] own flour eventually. Now, outside of [7:02] the starter we made yesterday, that [7:04] flour and water is going to be factored [7:06] into the equation today, but we need 450 [7:10] g of this bread flour measured out. Now, [7:13] to that, we've got our starter from [7:15] yesterday. I mean, look at that. She's [7:17] beautiful. Now, we don't need all of [7:18] this. I only need uh 250 g of it. That's [7:21] going to leave us with some leftover cuz [7:23] I made extra yesterday. I have a pizza [7:25] recipe in mind. So, I'm just going to [7:27] keep that leftover and we're going to [7:29] feed it and just keep it going. And [7:31] that's what you should be doing with [7:32] this type of thing. 45 g of lard. Lard [7:36] is what makes Cuban bread Cuban bread. [7:38] Gives it that crisp outer shell that [7:41] doesn't sort of shatter, but kind of has [7:43] stability and that fluffy pillowy [7:45] inside. Allows it to get smooshed down [7:47] and gives it that iconic texture. Then [7:50] we got 15 g of salt, 15 g of sugar. Salt [7:54] going to be the last thing that gets [7:55] added. And then we got the rest of that [7:56] half pack of yeast that we used to make [7:59] the starter. We've got our bowl. To the [8:01] bowl, we have 225 [8:03] g extra of warm water. We're going to [8:06] add that straight to our mixing bowl. [8:09] Now, we're going to get all set up here. [8:11] We're going to get the dough hook in. [8:13] Going to add the sugar, the yeast. I'm [8:16] going to start mixing in the flour, but [8:18] I'm going to add it a little bit at a [8:20] time. This allows that flour to slowly [8:23] get introduced into the water. Make sure [8:25] it gets nice and hydrated. [8:28] Add a little bit more. Get that dry [8:30] flour from the sides worked in. [8:35] A little bit more. [8:38] Now, I'm just going to take some of our [8:39] starter and measure it out cuz I don't [8:43] need all of this. Just 250 g. Get that [8:46] worked in. And then the rest of the [8:48] flour. Now we can add in our lard. Room [8:51] temperature of course. Once it's all [8:53] come together, I'm just going to raise [8:54] the speed. And we want to just allow [8:57] this to knead for a good 10 minutes, 15 [9:00] minutes or until you can kind of stretch [9:02] it into what they call a window pane or [9:05] just basically means stretching a thin [9:07] layer of it without it tearing [9:09] immediately. So, what we're going to do [9:11] is just let it go about 10 minutes or so [9:13] and then begin testing it. You're going [9:15] to see the dough smooth out and kind of [9:18] pull away from the walls and turn into a [9:20] nice soft dough. Forgot one thing. Now, [9:23] we got to add the salt. Salt always goes [9:25] last. [9:28] Over time, as you could see, all that [9:29] stuck on bits around the bowl sort of [9:32] gets sucked into the dough and the the [9:34] bowl almost cleans itself. And that [9:36] shows the dough is getting less sticky. [9:39] It's getting some structure built. It's [9:40] a good sign. Now, let's check for the [9:42] window pane. You see how it stretches [9:44] and it kind of pulls thin, but just at a [9:47] certain point, it breaks in several [9:49] places. That's telling me we're on our [9:51] way and almost there, but not quite [9:54] there. So, we're going to go a little [9:56] longer. [9:58] Now, after about 13 minutes, I'm going [10:00] to stop it. I'm going to give it like 2 [10:02] minutes to just relax. Sometimes the [10:04] dough needs a minute to relax, to really [10:06] assess it. After a couple minutes, I can [10:08] feel it's definitely relaxed a bit more. [10:10] Let's give it a test. You see how much [10:13] more extensible it is? It's got enough [10:16] extensibility and elasticity to hold a [10:19] little bit of a window pane before it [10:20] eventually tears. I just got a bowl. I'm [10:23] going to hit it with some spray oil. I'm [10:25] just going to knead it into a smooth [10:27] ball. [10:30] We're going to cover it and we're going [10:31] to allow it to rise until it about [10:34] doubles in size. Probably going to take [10:36] about an hour. Put this back here by the [10:39] warm stove. That leads us back to our [10:42] residual starter. Right, we've got, I [10:44] don't know, 50 g in here left. So, this [10:46] is how you would feed a starter. Keep it [10:48] alive and keep it going. Here I have 50 [10:51] g of bread flour, 50 g of water. I'm [10:54] going to get that old starter, the new [10:56] water, and the new flour all mixed in. [10:59] So, now we got new starter in here. We [11:01] can just cover it up, and then this can [11:03] just live in our fridge. It will [11:05] eventually double in size. And if you [11:07] ever see it then deflate back or get [11:11] watery or sort of break. The yeast has [11:13] just eaten through everything. And [11:16] that's what feeding it is. You're just [11:17] adding more flour, more things for the [11:20] yeast to eat through, fart a little bit, [11:22] create the bubbles, and then that's the [11:25] thing that makes bread and pizza dough [11:27] great. It's been 3 hours of cooking for [11:29] the pork, so we're going to take it out. [11:31] See where we're at. It's actually still [11:33] a little bit tougher than I would like. [11:35] So, we're just going to cover it again. [11:37] We're going to let that go for basically [11:39] it's stuck around 170 175, which is kind [11:42] of, if you know anything about pulled [11:44] pork or barbecue, where the stall hits, [11:47] which is basically when evaporative [11:49] cooling is taking place. It's like the [11:51] meat sweating, like you when you run and [11:53] sweat, that's meant to cool you down. [11:55] Same thing's happening with the pork, [11:58] which is preventing it from pushing past [12:01] that point into the tender zone. [12:03] Depending on the size of meat, that [12:04] might happen at different points. And [12:06] it's again why I'm not going to tell you [12:07] exactly the amount of time to cook it. [12:09] I'm going to teach you how to know when [12:10] it's done. So, in the meantime, we're [12:13] going to work on something that I don't [12:14] know is like super traditional to this, [12:17] but La Solas Cafe does this, so that's [12:20] what I'm doing. It's actually nice to [12:21] serve this sandwich with a condiment, [12:23] split down the middle, easy to dip. So, [12:26] we're making a raw salsa verde that [12:28] involves, you know, eight tamatillos. [12:32] Now, when you want to shop for [12:33] tamatillos, you want to look for [12:34] tomatillos with like really fresh husks, [12:38] not dried out, not torn or brown, nice [12:41] and green. These are all examples of a [12:44] nice fresh tomatillo. When you open it [12:46] up, you get a nice green tamatillo. It's [12:50] perfect. It's not blemished. It's not [12:52] rotting anywhere. Once you've got the [12:54] husks off, there's a little sticky film [12:57] on them. We're just going to rinse it [12:58] off. So, I've got my little bullet here. [13:01] We're going to go in with like a third [13:03] of a white onion. Whenever you're making [13:05] like a a salsa verde or something like [13:07] that with a red or for that matter like [13:09] Mexican recipes in general, you always [13:11] use a white onion. White onion is just a [13:13] little bit more palatable, especially [13:15] for raw application. To that, we have [13:17] two garlic cloves. Just going to smash [13:20] those. Now, since it's raw, I'm going to [13:22] get those harsh things in there. Then, [13:23] I'm going to hit it with the lime juice [13:25] and use that lime juice sort of mellow [13:27] those flavors out. Also, salt to them [13:30] helps as well. Now, while those simmer, [13:32] I can kind of shave a little bit of a [13:34] serrano or jalapeno in there. Just the [13:36] cheeks. If you don't want it too spicy, [13:38] sort of limit the amount of seeds you [13:40] get in there. Some fresh cilantro. [13:43] One avocado. When you're picking out [13:45] avocados, you always want to press down [13:47] here. You want it to be soft. And if you [13:49] want it to stay super green, you want to [13:51] make sure you see that the stem is in [13:54] there, not fleck off. Kind of like that. [13:57] That allows air to get in there. That's [13:59] what helps it oxidize and turn brown [14:01] when you open it. So, I'm guessing this [14:04] is going to look pretty nice and green [14:05] inside. There you go. If it's ripe, the [14:08] seed should pop right out. Dice it up [14:10] inside of its shell. Scoop it into the [14:13] blender. Going to add another lime to [14:16] neutralize any oxidation that might [14:18] occur on the avocado. Now we can cut the [14:22] tomatillos. [14:28] A little more salt for the ingredients [14:30] we just added. Little olive oil. We're [14:32] just going to close it up. [14:38] Now, I must say this is completely [14:40] optional, not necessary or traditional, [14:42] but it's how I like it. And I think it [14:44] actually goes well. So, if you're Cuban, [14:46] don't come at me. Now, it looks like our [14:48] bread's doubled inside. Nice and jiggly. [14:51] Let's degass it. Get it onto the board. [14:54] Got a nice large sheet tray here. Just [14:56] going to get it spread out like that. [14:58] Cut it in half. [15:00] Then, we're just going to take one side [15:02] and spread it out into a rectangle. [15:04] Flatten it out. use your thumb and fold [15:07] over. [15:09] So, you're pushing almost a third into [15:12] the dough and you're kind of folding and [15:14] pushing your palm into it. Right? Then, [15:17] we're going to rotate the dough and [15:18] repeat the same motion. [15:25] Now, you've got this long strip of [15:27] dough. We're going to measure it out [15:29] till it's about the length of the sheet [15:31] tray. And then, I'm just going to [15:32] lightly flatten it. And we're going to [15:34] transfer that onto the sheet tray. And [15:36] then we're just going to repeat with the [15:37] other one. [15:45] I think it looks pretty good. Let it [15:47] rise another time. I like to take one [15:50] side at a time and wrap it and almost [15:52] use the cling wrap to sort of help keep [15:55] its shape. As it rises, it'll sort of [15:58] create some tension and hopefully allow [16:00] it to raise up rather than out. We're [16:02] just going to let that rise. So, I let [16:05] it go for the four hours. [16:07] Way more tender. Now, just want to set [16:10] this on the meat side up. We're going to [16:12] base this sucker. We're going to now [16:14] jack the heat up to 400°, which is the [16:17] temperature the bread is eventually [16:18] going to bake at. And while that comes [16:20] up to temperature, we're going to brown [16:22] this meat. Just give it a check every [16:23] few minutes. Rotate it around until it's [16:26] beautifully browned and caramelized. [16:28] with that marinade that gets caramelized [16:30] on top of the beef. It's such a yummy [16:32] flavor. You just eat it plain, forget [16:35] the sandwich, throw it on some rice, you [16:37] got a meal. [16:39] And you see how they doubled in size. [16:41] Beautiful. All we've got to do, take a [16:43] very sharp knife. We're just going to [16:45] use the tip of it. We need to score the [16:47] the bread so it has a place to expand. [16:50] So, we're just going to take the knife [16:52] and very quickly cut down the middle. [16:54] Now, our oven has hit our preheated [16:56] 400°. So, while that meat's in there, we [17:00] can throw these in. All I want to do, [17:02] little bit of spritz of water on top. [17:05] We're going to pop it in. That's going [17:06] to cook for about 25 30 minutes. We're [17:10] going to rotate it halfway through. And [17:12] we're really just looking for like a [17:13] little light golden brown. We don't want [17:15] to go too dark. We're going to be [17:17] cooking this in lard on the griddle. [17:22] I mean, I'm turning you into a Cuban and [17:24] a baker. We can't do anything to these [17:26] until they cool down. And now our pork [17:30] is done. It took longer than even I [17:32] anticipated even for any pork that I've [17:34] cooked. So again, the recipe is less [17:37] important than knowing when it's done. [17:39] And one easy way for us to check it goes [17:42] in and out easily. That's one way to [17:45] check. That's the most definitive way to [17:48] check. Also, the temperature. We can see [17:50] it's hovering around 208 209 at the [17:54] center. It's at 203. Now, of course, you [17:57] can use it, but best practice, you want [18:00] to wrap this up nice and tight and allow [18:02] this to cool down and relax. It's good [18:05] now, but if you give it time to chill [18:08] down, calm down, just chill out, it's [18:10] going to be 5 to 10 times better. Now, [18:13] since everything's pretty much ready to [18:15] go, I got my griddle over here, and I [18:17] got a nice heavy big cast iron pan. I'm [18:20] just going to lightly gently start [18:21] warming them up so they're ready when [18:23] I'm ready to make the sandwiches to get [18:25] fired up and cook. Now the pork is [18:28] cooled. And if you know anything about a [18:29] pork butt, it's consists of various [18:32] muscles connected by fat. So what I want [18:35] to do here is take this guy, put it in a [18:37] bowl, and what I want to start to do is [18:39] sort of just remove muscles and [18:42] eliminate any unwanted fat. So you're [18:44] almost just like pulling it apart. [18:46] That's all fat right there. It's not the [18:48] good type of fat. That's all fat right [18:50] there. Gristle and all sorts of stuff [18:52] like that. I mean, it's beautiful. [18:55] Squeeze it all together. Mix all the [18:57] muscles together. Combine them. [19:01] And we can take some of that juice, get [19:03] that worked in. All that flavor gets [19:07] reabsorbed by the pork. So, now we're [19:10] ready to make sandwiches. Now, one of [19:12] these loaves will make two sandwiches. [19:14] You just take the butts off. [19:17] Cut it in half. Not bad, huh? I'm going [19:19] to cut it nice and evenly right down the [19:21] middle. [19:25] Got to make my door man one, too. First [19:28] up, we go mustard on each side. Yellow [19:31] mustard. The only time I really kind of [19:33] use it. Spread it on nice and even. [19:39] And we're going to go with a slice of [19:41] Swiss cheese on the bottom and the top. [19:44] Then I've just got my ham. Some nice [19:47] deli ham. I'm going to fold it just like [19:49] that. Then we go with pickles on the [19:52] bottom. Then on top of that, the pork. [19:54] Nice even layer. [19:58] Then another piece of cheese in between [20:01] the ham and the pork. And then right on [20:03] top. Then we're going to take some [20:06] softened lard. And then we just paint [20:08] the top with it. Then we're going to [20:10] place those sandwiches right onto that [20:11] hot griddle. Place that heavy pan right [20:13] on top and weigh it down any way you [20:16] can. I'm using a wooden spoon. We're [20:18] looking to flatten that sandwich and [20:20] toast and crisp up the outside of that [20:22] bread all while melting the cheese [20:24] inside. Just like a grilled cheese, [20:26] we're going to flip and rotate it every [20:29] 30 seconds to a minute until that cheese [20:31] is melted. But we want to be careful to [20:33] manage the heat cuz we don't want it to [20:35] darken too much. We want a nice golden [20:37] brown on the bread. When it's crisp and [20:40] the cheese is melted, get it off the [20:41] griddle. Now for the trick. Normally a [20:44] cubano is cut like that on a steep angle [20:48] so you get like sharp points to eat it. [20:50] The better way, maybe all sandwiches are [20:53] better this way. Down the middle, we cut [20:55] it lengthwise. Nice sawing motion. [21:03] Now, that's about as perfect of a [21:05] sandwich that I've ever seen and is [21:07] perfectly fine to serve as is. But there [21:09] is one missing step that Los Olas does, [21:12] which is after they cut it lengthwise, [21:14] they place that sandwich back on the [21:15] griddle, cut side down, and this is [21:17] where you get sort of that Big Mac [21:19] In-N-Out flavor coming out. It's the mix [21:22] of that mustard frying with the meat [21:24] that mimics that mustard fried In-N-Out [21:27] burger flavor. This is a top level [21:29] technique, and it's why I love this [21:31] place so much. Now we're ready to serve. [21:33] A little bit of salsa verde and you're [21:36] in heaven. It's the best sandwich I ever [21:38] had. Nothing beats the way this eats. [21:41] The bread is perfect. The pork is [21:43] perfect. The assembly is perfect. [21:45] Everything's perfect. You want the [21:46] recipe? It's going to be down in the [21:47] description. No traveling to Miami. [21:50] Anyway, that's all that I have today. [21:52] I'll see you next time. Until then, take [21:53] care of yourself and go feed yourself.