craving for Cuban (pic intensive)

[seattlepitboss]

So this nice lady named Norma from South Florida has a daughter staying with us. Norma's family is Cuban. Norma sent up a care package which contained among other things, several pieces of authentic Cuban bread. We stuck it in the freezer until we had time to do it right. Well, yesterday we got busy. Here's the story in pictures - enjoy!

Started with a familiar cut of meat - a pork shoulder.



Chopped up one and a half medium onions.



Processed it until it was a fine puree.



Nearly 2 cups of garlic. NOTE: I buy jars of peeled fresh garlic cloves and mince them in bulk in the food processor, then spread them into an even layer in a baking pan, freeze, and cut into 1" cubes. I keep the frozen garlic cubes in an empty yogurt container in the freezer and just pull one out when I need it. A cube is about 3 cloves of garlic, so this is intended to be about the equivalent of 40 cloves of garlic.



I added the (thawed) garlic, oregano, salt and pepper to the pureed onion.



Then I processed the mash for a few minutes until it was as homogeneous and mixed as I could get it. I warmed up some olive oil to about 225F in a skillet, shut off the heat and whisked in the mash along with a 23 oz bottle of sour orange juice.



After that was all mixed up and cool I had a nice panful of mojo sauce!



Then I put the roast in a no. 12 Dutch oven and injected it with mojo liberally.



And then poured most of the rest of the mojo sauce over the roast as a marinade.



I turned the roast in the middle of the night. In the morning, I pulled it out and put it on a rack in a roasting pan.



Slow roasted it all day long (about 10 hours) at 225F. I pulled it at 160F for slicing.



We sliced the Cuban bread, buttered one half, put whole grain mustard on the other, and layered ham, Swiss cheese, lechon asado (Cuban pork) and sliced dill pickle.



We did the grilling in a George Foreman grill which squeezes while grilling both sides. We also cooked up a mess of black beans with sofrito and home made bacon. Here's tonight's dinner plated:



Thanks, Norma!

seattlepitboss

[Titch]

Mate I want some of that,I have eaten with Cubans but never like that

[JohnHB]

Hey I'm coming with Titch. I'll bring the VB.
John

[93vpmod]

The pork looked plenty tasty all by itself...

[cameraman]

I won't be able to sleep toninght thinking of that. Nice.

[swamprb]

Nice work Grant!

[landarc]

Looks great, thanks for the recipe and tips

[GMDGeek]

DUDE - SERIOUSLY! I'm freaking craving that sandwich now.

[Cherrywood]

Seriously, thanks for posting that up. I am addicted to cuban sandwiches. Can't wait to try that.

[MS2SB]

Looks great. Two questions.
1) Where'd you get the sour orange.
2) Any issue with that marinade in the CI?

Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express

[silverfinger]

Looks great!!!
Thanks for sharing!!!
One question?
Was the pork cooked in an oven or outdoors in a pit?

It really does not matter, just wondering what you used to cook it in?

Thanks in advance!!

[jacksedona]

excellent job i want a sandwich . great pictures

http://thebarbecuemaster.net

[seattlepitboss]

Originally Posted by MS2SB

Where'd you get the sour orange.

La Superior in Bellevue (behind Crossroads). But there are lots of other Latin mercados around and probably they all carry it. I do make a hobby of shopping out-of-the-way ethnic grocery stores, so maybe it seems easier than it really is.

Originally Posted by MS2SB

Any issue with that marinade in the CI?

No. It was delicious. I've owned that no. 12 for many years. Bought it at the annual 50% off sale at Chubby & Tubby on Rainier in south Seattle. It has a layer of seasoning on it that rivals Teflon. Anyway, I'm sure the olive oil helped too.

seattlepitboss

[seattlepitboss]

Originally Posted by silverfinger

Was the pork cooked in an oven or outdoors in a pit?

Oh, I just cheated and did it in the oven. I have a loaded UDS right outside my kitchen door. It would have been just as easy to smoke it. But I wanted to try it the mildest Cuban way, without smoke flavor. This time, anyway .. :-)

I mainly followed the 3 guys from Miami recipe except I used the food processor not a mortar & pestle, and I injected instead of poking and filling. Much easier. And I used about 1/8th the olive oil they call for. Can't believe they call for olive oil 1:1 with sour orange juice. I can't friggin afford that!

Thanks to all for your kind words. It was a lot of fun and our Cuban guest really felt welcomed!

seattlepitboss

[seattlepitboss]

Originally Posted by swamprb

Nice work Grant!

Thank you, Brian! Not quite in your league, but fun anyway!

seattlepitboss