The Cuban Sandwich
What’s a true Cuban sandwich? Depends where you are—and it’s likely not in Cuba.
In Miami, the sandwich maker at a Cuban restaurant piles a filling of garlic-citrus marinated roast pork, sweet, smoky ham, nutty Swiss cheese, long, thin pickles and yellow mustard between Cuban bread, a lighter version of a baguette. He brushes softened butter on the bread and places the creation on the bottom metal plate of a large sandwich press. The cheese melts, the bread is crispy and the sandwich is warm. That’s it. Imposters may offer strange additions, but that’s the authentic Cuban sandwich—according to Miami fanatics.
Order a Cuban sandwich in Tampa, however, and you’ll get what local devotees claim is the “real,” “original,” “authentic” Cuban sandwich—this one amended with the addition of Italian salami.
Both versions are real—and both are delicious. The truth is that the Cuban sandwich, like most things, evolved over time.
“It was born in Cuba, from the mixto—literally mixed sandwich,” explains Barbara C. Cruz, co-author of the book, The Cuban Sandwich, A History in Layers. “Mixed different kinds of meats, for example, and cheese.” The sandwich further evolved “by way of cigar workers going to Key West, then coming to Ybor City and Tampa.”
Tampa has historical precedence in the United States. Beginning in the 1890s, many Cubans worked in cigar factories alongside immigrants from Italy who purportedly contributed the salami to the Tampa version. Then in the 1960s, refugees from the Castro revolution made Miami Florida’s epicenter of Cubans. With them came the purist’s version of the sandwich. Which is authentic? One thing’s for sure: you can’t look to the source for the answer. Finding a good Cuban sandwich in economically challenged Cuba is difficult these days.
Wherever you are, the pro move when you order is to get the especial. This adds pork. Make sure that the cheese is stacked on the inside of both pieces of bread to help the melting. Pickles in the middle. Order it with or without salami. Just no mayonnaise, please.
