One of my fond food memories from my time in the ATL was a little cuban grocery store over by Georgia Tech called the Kool Korner. It served (hands down) the best cuban sandwich I have ever eaten. While I know they sold other things…this place was 98% a cuban sandwich factory. I set out to recreate that awesome cuban sandwich taste, and the result was pretty darn tasty. I owe it to my buddy BC and the frisbee golf crew for introducing me to the mecca of cuban sandwiches.
I wanted to recreate a cuban sandwich at home in an homage to our ATL days. I picked up some pork chops at the grocery, as well as some thick cut (1/8 in) smoked ham and a french bread. The bread was soft on the inside and “just” hard on the outside without being to hard. That’s important because I needed to press the sandwiches and if the bread was to crusty it wouldn’t press well.
The pork I cooked in the slow cooker with a “mixture of stuff”: Sprite, garlic, jalapenos, 2 slices of ham, butter, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika. That cooked for about 8 hours on low. It would have been better to use a pork roast…there wasn’t enough fat in the pork chops and they dried out and cooked too fast even in the slow cooker. That said, I think it would be possible to grill the pork chops (butterflied) instead of roasting the pork…but you are going to get a different flavor that way (and a tougher cut of meat). Anyway, I took the pork out after 8 hours and shredded it into a bowl. Traditionally, a cuban is made with roasted pork that is sliced. I made up a quick sauce out of the leftover liquid in the slow cooker to top the pork. At the same time I had the grill going on high with a few bricks wrapped in tin foil. These would become my press.
It was time for sandwich assembly. I took the bread, cut in half, put dijon mustard on both sides then pork topped with a little sauce. I put a few slices of ham on the grill for about 45 seconds a side. I pulled that off and put it onto the pork. Baby swiss cheese was next and then some dill pickles. I had a sheet of tin foil down on the grill grate and dropped the sandwiches down onto that. Then a brick went on top of each sandwich. It was a bit tricky to balance a super hot brick on a sandwich on the grill (also very hot). As you can see from the picture I was able to prevail with my makeshift sandwich press.
Off the grill and onto the plate. The finished cuban sandwich. What I didn’t put into the picture was the side of squash, cherry tomatoes and onions that were grilled up along side the sandwiches. Truth be told, they took a little longer to cook and Jody and I couldn’t resist the urge to dig into these tasty cuban sandwiches.
For those looking for a good cuban in Atlanta…you’ll have to make the drive to Birmingham, AL as it appears the Kool Korner moved away from its little spot.
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