BEER-BRINED PORK BELLY CUBANOS

Exclusive Recipe from THE CULINARY BRO-DOWN COOKBOOK by Josh Scherer

There’s nothing wrong with a standard Cuban sandwich, and I’m not saying the alterations I’ve made are necessarily improvements on a dish rooted in history, except they totally are. First, sub out that easy-to-f*ck-up pork shoulder with hard-to-f*ck-up pork belly. You’ll be grateful for the extra fat in there, trust me. You’re going to be brining it for 12 hours, which, I get it — that sucks — but it’s totally worth it, and you will look back on this recipe and thank me one day. Second, replace Swiss cheese with its creamier, more processed counterpart, white American. Any time you can increase the meltiness factor of a dish, I say go for it. Third, slap some slices of pickled green tomato (the brand Bubbies makes a great pickle) on there instead of your typical dill pickles. If you’re not already on this pickled-green-tomato-hype train, you need to jump on real fast.


INGREDIENTS

Serves 4

2 cans of your favorite light beer

2 cups orange juice

¼ cup lime juice

3 tablespoons chopped garlic

2 tablespoons ground cumin

2 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon cracked black pepper

3- to 4-pound slab boneless skinless pork belly

2 baguettes

¼ cup yellow mustard

1 pound thin-sliced deli ham (spring for some good sh*t)

4 slices white American cheese (way better than Swiss)

4 thin slices pickled green tomato (or regular dill pickles, whatevs)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter


DIRECTIONS

  1. Whisk together your beer, orange juice, lime juice, garlic, cumin, salt, and pepper in a bowl large enough to fit the pork belly.

For more, check out The Culinary Bro-Down Cookbook by Josh Scherer. Published by Grand Central Publishing. Copyright © 2017 Josh Scherer.

Available August 29, 2017!

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, Books-A-Million, Kindle, Nook, iBooks

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