Cuban Sandwich

Ingredients

• 1 large loaf Cuban bread, or 2 lengths of soft French bread, about 25cm each
• 250g roast pork (lechón asado), thinly sliced
• 200g sweet-cured cooked ham, thinly sliced
• 150g Swiss cheese, thinly sliced
• 8 slices dill pickle, patted dry
• 3 tbsp yellow mustard
• 40g softened butter
• 60g Genoa salami, thinly sliced, if making it Tampa style

Before you cook

• Slice the roast pork, ham and cheese as thinly as you can manage.
• Pat the pickle slices dry on kitchen paper so they do not steam the bread.
• Split each length of bread horizontally without cutting all the way through.
• Take the butter out to soften.

Steps

1. Set a heavy frying pan or a sandwich press over medium heat.
2. Open out the bread and spread yellow mustard generously across both cut faces.
3. Lay half the Swiss cheese on the bottom half of each loaf, reaching right to the edges.
4. Pile on the roast pork, spreading it in an even layer rather than a mound.
5. Add the salami now if you are making the Tampa version.
6. Layer the ham over the pork.
7. Arrange the pickle slices in a single row down the middle.
8. Finish with the remaining Swiss cheese, so the cheese touches both slices of bread and glues the sandwich together.
9. Close each sandwich and press down firmly with your palm.
10. Butter the outside of the top and bottom crusts.
11. Lay a sandwich in the hot pan and weigh it down with a second heavy pan or a foil-wrapped brick.
12. Press for four minutes, until the underside is deeply golden and the sandwich has flattened to about half its height.
13. Flip the sandwich, replace the weight, and press for another four minutes.
14. Check that the cheese has melted through by squeezing the edges gently.
15. Move the sandwich to a board and repeat with the second one.
16. Cut each sandwich on a sharp diagonal and serve while the cheese is still running.