Paseo-like Cuban pork sandwich

And now for something completely different… Paseo-like Cuban pork sandwiches, using a recipe from the Seattle Times food blog, originally based on Paseo reverse-engineering done by Lorna Yee, presented in her cookbook The Newlywed Kitchen.

This took me about 1 1/2 hours of attentive cooking, but elapsed time was about 20 hours as most of the marination happened the night before.  It makes enough to feed six.

For the pork, mix in a gallon-sized, sealable ZipLoc baggie and let marinate overnight:

• 3 pounds boneless pork shoulder or loin roast
• 10 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 T kosher salt
• 2 C orange juice
• 1/2 C lime juice
• 2 T brown sugar (they recommend dark brown, which I didn’t have, so I added 1t of molasses)
• 2 t dried oregano (they use 2T fresh. I couldn’t find any at the store)
• 1/2 C extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 C diced onion
• 2 bay leaves

For the garlic mayonnaise, also prepared in advance:

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 C mayonnaise
• 3 T sweet relish
• Juice from one lemon. I also added the zest because zest is awesome.

For the sandwiches, you’ll need:

• 2 T olive oil
• 1 onion, cut into 1/4 inch rings
• 48 inches of baguettes, sliced into 6″ lengths. You can use banh mi-style bread, really crumbly and light.
• Bunch of cilantro, leaves only

Instructions:

1. Plop the pork into a roast pan and pour the rest of the marinade mixture around it.  (Obvious note: do not cook the bag.) Tent the pan with a sheet of aluminum foil and cook at 300F for two hours.  Turn the meat over, remove tent, and cook for another 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
2. Pull out the garlic mayonnaise so it can reach room temperature.

   

3. Cook the onion slices in a sauce pan until they’re browned

   

4. Remove meat from the heat and let it set about 20 minutes until it’s cool enough to manage.  I used a fork to shred the meat into chunks, then dumped the chunks back into the cooked marinade.

   

5. Sandwich assembly is simple:
   a) Spread some mayo on each slice

   

   b) On one side, add cilantro leaves.  The other, onion.  I didn’t use the jalapeno Yee’s recipe called for because I didn’t want it to be too spicy for my kids.

   

   c) Add pork

   

   d) Enjoy!

   

Initially, there’s a mild jolt as your taste buds try to figure out what kind of citrus is involved (orange, lime and lemon!), then you just enjoy the sandwich.

Very enthusiastic thumbs up.