Medianoche
When I wrote about Cuban sandwiches nearly two years ago, I had this to say:
The greatest thing though is that while getting the sandwich exactly correct can be a pain in the ass–not too many of us have the flat sandwich presses or access to Cuban bread–getting it pretty close still results in an excellent sandwich.
Here’s the thing, though: a Medianoche has essentially the same ingredients as a regular Cubano, but uses a very specific bread. Called pan de medianoche or pan suave, it’s a sweeter, eggy roll that is softer and smaller than the long baguette-like Cuban bread used for the standard Cubano.
Since the bread is the distinctive element here, the bread was what I needed to get right this time around. However, not every Cuban restaurant in town even carries the right bread for Medianoche, and having rested my hopes on 90 Miles, a local favorite, I was disappointed when I found they were out of the right bread for the Medianoche on the day I visited. (That was only one of the many gaffes that occurred that day, but I’m not going to hate on the place over one bad visit. I’m sure I’ll be back sometime)
So I needed to make my own pan suave. Baking during the summer isn’t ideal in my kitchen–no central air, and it gets hot in there–but one nice side effect is that the bread really rises. My medianoche rolls ended up much bigger and thicker than I anticipated.
Homemade pan suave
They did turn out nice though. I used a recipe from “Three Guys from Miami” that seems to be everyone’s go-to for this type of bread, though I cut it in half since I’m not sure I could fit a recipe that size in my small KitchenAid. Regardless, it made seven fairly gigantic rolls.
Homemade pan suave
To go with the sandwiches, I made some baked plantain chips and mojo sauce. Mojo sauce is a combination of citrus, olive oil, and garlic (and more garlic). Plantain chips are quite tasty, but their true calling is as a vehicle for shoveling garlic into one’s mouth. It’s a marriage made in garlic heaven.
plantain chips
And that’s pretty much it! I marinated a pork loin in more mojo and cooked it on the grill, searing the outside over direct heat first then slow-roasting it over indirect heat for another hour or so. The ham is simple Polish ham (though a sweeter ham is more appropriate), the pickles are dill, the mustard is yellow, the cheese is Swiss (but not really). I heated the sandwiches in my panini press and they made a fantastic Sunday lunch for my family.
Medianoche with plaintain chips and mojo
They’re breadier than a Cubano would have been, but much of that may be from me shaping the rolls wrong. The bread was good though, eggy, soft, and sweet, much like the Puerto Rican Pan Mallorca I made recently but without the added confectioner’s sugar. The bread is sweet on its own though, nicely offsetting the pungency of the mustard and pickles. The pork I’d made was outstanding, lean yet moist, and the mild Swiss cheese was the glue holding the whole together.
Medianoche with plaintain chips and mojo
Maybe next time I stop by 90 Miles they’ll have Medianoches available and I’ll be able to see how I did. Overall though I think I prefer the standard Cuban sandwich bread.
I like sandwiches.
I like a lot of other things too but sandwiches are pretty great
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