You watched Cecelia nail down her recipes for crisp Cuban bread and tender mojo roast pork. Now, watch her cook through the entire recipe start to finish!
Get the Mojo Pork recipe:
Get the Cuban Bread recipe:
Follow Cecelia on Instagram:
Follow Cook’s Country on Instagram:
Sign up for a digital membership to Cook’s Country:
Subscribe to Cook’s Country magazine:
ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America’s Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.
If you like us, follow us:
24 Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Fantastic, you have all the ingredients correct. And the Cuban bread is the other part that makes the sandwich and then the sandwich is "pressed". Not a better sandwich to eat. And yes Tampa is the original Cuban sandwich, often imitated but as they say if you want the original come to Tampa. Love your recipe looks great but we never use mayo LOL
boiled meat
A Cuban here. I love the idea and will definitely make it for the family one of these days. However, I won't call it a Cuban sandwich as this is not.
I used to work in the seaport every day and wondered if the the America's test kitchen people in there now really were working in there developing actual recipes, and now I know that they really are. I am stunned at how much work went into developing a recipe for a sandwich. I never would have believed it until I watched the series. Hats off to Cecelia, you are amazing.
Has anyone tried baking bread in the a wolf Convection Steam oven? If so, how do you adapt this recipe?
Thank you very much for this series. Always wanted to prepare one "cubano", but didn't know what recipe would be the original. I love the work you did on this series. Now I know how to prepare Cuban bread.
Just one thing, day-to-day Cubans cannot afford the luxury of a panini press and that's why the use a fry pan and a Dutch oven to press the sandwich when toasting it on the fry pan. At the end, the panini press will just save you a few minutes only.
P.S.: love to see an ATK episode on testing panini presses.
Thanks again for this work.
Having grown up in South Florida I just can't imagine putting salami on a Cuban sandwich. Otherwise looks delicious.
What kind of pickles and what kind of salami?
I'll eat 'em every day of the week. But make them? Too many ingredients to stock. Too many steps. Too long and complicated to execute for one meal. And you need a press.
So interesting to see the entire process on how you guys test and formulate recipes!
Excellent work. I've made countless Cuban sandwiches and have brought them to several restaurants I've worked as chef.
While I did spend time in Tampa as a learning cook, I never added salami. I also used pork that was "pulled" after 200F in the oven.
The improvements I see that I can make are the sliced pork, the mojo seasoned bread halves and the love and extra attention that Cecelia has exemplified.
I used brined pork but like the rub shown in this video. I also used pickles we made in-house but home cooks won't always be so inclined.
When I make mojo, I heat olive oil on the stove and pour it over fresh garlic, minced fresh chile, salt, cumin seed that sizzles… then whisk in grapefruit, lime and orange juices in attempt to mimic the traditional sour orange that's not available where I live.
Cecelia is a hard worker, committed and loyal to her profession. I wish her the very best and I expect soon, very soon – she'll be leading her own team of test cooks for America's Test Kitchen.
There's certainly more complex, "restaurant-style" methods to producing this iconic sandwich but it takes even more more detail in bringing it to the home cook without causing intimidation.
Super job by who I would call an asset to her chosen profession.
🍻🥂🍹. A well earned mojito and I hope her coworkers picked up the tab for the next several, after-work celebrations.
Nice job Cecelia and ATK! I really enjoyed the full project video that gave a window into how much work goes into your recipes. This concise recipe video is very helpful. Thanks!
Hi Cecilia! I have made your Cuban bread, and as a Cuban, I can tell you it was excellent:) I have a problem though. The flat cookie sheet I bought for this purpose, 15-1/2" x 20", warped on the second try. Now, it doesn't make contact with the cover to properly enclose the bread and the heat comes in thru the bottom. It may as well be opened. Could you please tell us the brand and name of the cookie sheet you used and its size?? I am desperately looking for a replacement but all seem to have problems! Truly appreciate your reply. Thank you for all your wonderful work!!
What I love about "Test Kitchen" is … I don't have to be a great Cook. I just have to be a great follower of "Videos Directions". (I'm more of an Autodidact. so…) And I just witnessed Cecilia go through painstaking efforts to present the best Cuban that could possibly be made. So I feel that ALL Recipes from test kitchen are top shelf and need to be treated as such !
All other cooking recipes are "bush league" compared to….
I like to know what kind of flour Cecilia used for the Cuban bread?? Cant find the recipe;(
Looks delicious!
making the bread this week and noticed the outer crust gets a kinda crumbly unpleasant texture (like bad dutch crunch) when it's pressed. Haven't had FL style so wasn't sure if this could be a case of overproofing? Any tips?
As a Cuban American I'm really touched by the effort and dedication they've demonstrated trying to come up with this recipe. With that said, I must say that they've managed to complicate the hell out of something as simple as a Cuban sandwich. I guess their first mistake was going to Tampa and not Miami. Sorry Tampa, but who puts salami on a Cuban sandwich? And Mojo is for pork sandwiches. All you need to make a Cuban sandwich is:
Cuban bread
Jamon Bolo (sweet ham)
Pierna (roasted pork)
Swiss cheese
Yellow mustard
Pickles
Butter
Spread mustard on one side of the sliced bread, stack the rest of the ingredients, apply butter to the outside of both pieces of bread and press grill it. That's it.
Cecelia I loved watching your videos! I made the recipes exactly as written. The pork was so salty. I wondered if a 1/3C was a mistake. The bread turn out so hard I could use it as a weapon. The Mojo sauce is delicious I could put it on everything. I'm not sure what happened. Your video's are great! Maybe if I try it a few more times it will turn out better. Thank you for all your hard work!!
Cuban here, the only Cuban thing here was the bread. The rest is not even close to being Cuban.
I saw the video of the entire process and journey you went through to get to the point of creating this short video, weeks of work for a 6 minute video. I don't think people appreciate how much effort goes into this. I am very proud of you for not only your efforts, but the excellent way you were able to present it in this video, well done. Next time though, they need to let you go on the field trip to get first hand knowledge of what you're supposed to be working with instead of making you do all that extra research. Actually, you were able to do this without any real help from the guys, so what was the point in the field trip, and how did they justify their expenditures (just sayin'). Basically, whoever's project it is, should be included in the trip. Still, you nailed it.
Many kudos to you, Ms. Jenkins, on your journey through this sandwich odyssey! I have been a competition barbeque guy for many years and have tested, refined, retested, re-refined, etc., etc. Seeing the ATK process from start to finish was a very satisfying experience. So much work goes into the process of creating a great end product and the failures along the way often take us to places we might never have thought to go, places that ultimately lead us to success! Thank you very much for sharing this with us and I look forward to your next challenge!
This series is awesome! I loved this whole ordeal!
Love it! You did Tampa proud. We constantly have places like Thrillist and TV shows giving credit to Miami, but this whole series was a great testament to the true original Cuban from Tampa. Great work!