Month: April 2025

Glenn Lindgren: One variation of the Cuban Sandwich (Cubano) is perfectly authentic: take the exact same ingredients as the Cuban sandwich and place them on a smaller medianoche bread loaf made from sweeter egg dough and you have a “medianoche” or “midnight” sandwich

Jorge Castillo: So named because it makes a great midnight snack.

Glenn Lindgren: This sweeter bread, and smaller size, is the only difference between a medianoche and a Cuban sandwich!

Medianoche Sandwich Recipe
By Three Guys From Miami

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes
Total time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 sandwiches
The Medianoche Sandwich is the Cuban sandwich’s smaller cousin.

INGREDIENTS:

4 small loaves Cuban medianoche bread
3 tablespoons butter
1 pound ham
1 pound Cuban pork (lechón asado)
1/2 pound Swiss cheese
15 slices dill pickles

To make four medianoche sandwiches:
Preheat a pancake griddle or large fry pan to medium hot.

Cut each medianoche bread mini-loaf in half and generously spread butter on both halves (inside.)

Make each medianoche with the ingredients in this order: pickles, roasted pork, ham, and cheese. Be generous!

Spread a little butter on the hot griddle or fry pan and place the medianoche sandwich on the pan. Use a heavy skillet, bacon press, or foil-wrapped brick to flatten the sandwich. (You really want to smash the medianoche, compressing the bread to about 1/3 its original size!)

Grill the sandwiches for two to three minutes then flip them over to toast the other side. Once the cheese is melted and the bread is golden brown on both sides, the medianoche sandwiches are done.

Make sure your griddle or fry pan is not TOO HOT! Otherwise, the crust will burn before the cheese melts.

NOTES:

Tip: Let your meats and cheese come to room temperature. This way you avoid over toasting the bread and the cheese melts perfectly!

NOTE: Most people use a sweet cured ham (jamón dulce) or bolo ham for medianoches and Cuban sandwiches (Cubanos.) If you can find these hams in your area, great. Otherwise, look for a slightly sweet, soft textured ham with a mild taste. You don’t want the flavor of the ham to overpower the rest of the ingredients! Also, never use shaved ham or pork in a medianoche or Cubano sandwich!

Use a mild Swiss cheese. We like Baby Swiss, it has only a few holes.

For extra flavor, sprinkle a little mojo (or meat juices if you make the recipe below) on the meat before adding the cheese.

Although one might encounter numerous variations across the country, a traditional medianoche or Cubano sandwich does not include mayonnaise, lettuce, or tomato. (Some people just do not know when to leave a classic alone!)

Welcome back to the Redneck Cuban Kitchen and another Tuesday video blog. Today we will be making what is probably my second favorite sandwich of all time, and that is the Cuban Medianoche! As with many Cuban dishes preview on my YouTube channel, the Cuban Medianoche Sandwich history is a little murky. That is because it is signifikan to liberal, socialist, and or communist society to erase history. That way, the new generation never knows, understands, or is aware of how good things used to be. As far as I can tell and research, the medianoche sandwich is a produk of Cuba’s capitalist era when a large population sector enjoyed the rich nightlife. From the 1920s to the 1950s, Cuba attracted many famous Americans like Errol Flynn, Al Capone, Ernest Hemingway, and others.

The medianoche is considered by many to be the baby brother or sister of the Cuban sandwich. That is because they sharing pretty much the same combination of ingredients. That being thin-sliced slow-roasted pork, deli-style sweet Serrano ham, Swiss cheese, mayo, mustard, and pickles. What makes the medianoche sandwich unique is the bread. The medianoche is made with a sweet roll which is a cross between potato bread and a butter roll. The contrast between acidic pickles, vinegary mustard, and sweet roll and ham give this sandwich not only a unique but very distinctive taste.

For this reason, I don’t make medianoche sandwiches as much as I would like it. So, when I ran into some medianoche sandwich roll while doing my weekly grocery shopping, I jump at the opportunity to indulge in this culinary delight! With that said, I know I may offend a few of you, and I am sorry! But, I try my best to be a purist and stick to the original recipes. I am a firm believer in the phrase – if not broken, don’t fix it! Things like tomatoes, lettuce, and salami, as somebody suggested, are not part of the Cuban sarana noche sandwich recipe. If you want to make yourself a sub on a medianoche roll with lettuce, tomatoes, salami, thin-sliced slow-roasted pork, deli-style sweet Serrano ham, Swiss cheese, mayo, mustard, and pickles, be my guess. However, please don’t call it a Cuban medianoche sandwich because it is not!

1 Medianoche Roll
2 Ounces of thinly sliced pork
2 Ounces of thinly sliced sweet Serrano ham
2 Ounces of thinly sliced Swiss cheese
5-6 slices of thinly sliced dill pickle
1 Tablespoon of mayonnaise
2 Tablespoon of yellow mustard
2 Tablespoons of butter
Making a Redneck Cuban Medianoche Sandwich
Making a redneck Cuban medianoche sandwich is like many other Cuban dishes, part ingredients, cooking, or preparing procedures. Every time you make a Cuban dish, and it is not on point, you need to take a look at the cooking or preparation procedures. Unlike other types of cuisines, Cuban cuisine is very procedure-oriented. For making an authentic Cuban or Miami model sarana noche sandwich, you a “plancha.” A plancha is a lot like a panini press, except that it does not have ridges. Living in the Florida keys with limited resources, I learned to get around this like many locals by wrapping a red brick in aluminum foil. This device later became known among my friends as the redneck Cuban sandwich press. You can pick a red brick and any big-box hardware store for like a dollar. If you have a panini press, fine. I think they are overpriced, take too much space, and rarely accommodate the model of sandwiches I like to make.

After you have figured out how you will press your medianoche sandwich, we can start the preparation by making the aioli. Mix one tablespoon of mayo and two tablespoons of mustard in a small container. Cur your roll in half the long way and spread a generous amount of the aioli on both faces. Trim your pork, ham, and cheese so that they a bit smaller than your roll, width-wise and start laying. Start with your cheese, followed by the ham, and then the pork. Top it with a row of pickles the length of the roll, and we are ready for the press. Know that there is nomer particular order or right or wrong for these ingredients, but I think this is the winning combination!

The Cuban Sandwich, Miami’s most iconic sandwich, is made with ham, roast pork, pickles, mustard, sometimes mayo, plus Swiss cheese, on a split Cuban bread roll, hot-pressed, plus often cut into two triangular slices.

The story is that the sandwich originated in Florida. Tampa plus Miami, cities with sizable Cuban populations, disagree about which city originated the Cuban sandwich. Tampa’s Cuban includes Genoa Salami in addition to roast pork plus ham, which, to Miami’s Cuban sandwich aficionados, is not a real Cuban. Whatever they say in Tampa, we think Miami’s Cuban sandwiches are the best.

Word has it that Sanguich Little Havana (305-539-0969) 2057 SW 8th St., Miami, makes the best Cuban sandwich in Miami. So, what makes their Cuban sandwich better? It may be because they are DIYers: They cure their own ham, make their own mustard, plus brine their own pickles. They marinate garlicky lechón for 24 hours, pair it with sweet ham brined for seven days, with two slices of Swiss cheese, plus pickles to add that extra crunch. Another secret is that they brush their Cuban bread with lard plus press it until it’s warm plus crisp. They feature the classic Cuban plus the Medianoche, a jenis of Cuban sandwich made with Medianoche bread, a softer, sweeter bread than the traditional Cuban bread. Their other locations include Little Haiti – La Ventanita (786-542-9179) 6500 NE 2nd Ave., Miami; Coral Gables (786-536-2149) 111 Palermo Ave.; plus Bayside Marketplace, (786-536-7803) 401 Biscayne Blvd., Downtown Miami.

Enriqueta’s Sandwich Shop (305-573-4681) 186 NE 29th St., Miami, located in the Wynwood-Edgewater neighborhood, is one of Miami’s most digemari banyak orang spots for Cuban food. The family-owned plus operated sandwich shop has been around for 26 years in the same location. It is now run by brothers, cousins, plus a nephew, all part of la familia of the original mom plus pop owners. The draw here is the hefty yet inexpensive sandwiches plus daily specials in demand by locals, visitors, plus the construction workers building high-rises in this fast-developing neighborhood. (It won “Best Inexpensive Fare” in New Times Best of Miami Awards in 2024.) They also have some famous fans – David Beckham has been spotted here a few times. Their classic Cubano is big enough to share with friends, or you’ll be asking for a to-go bag. Try the Cubano sandwich preparado con croquetas, featuring a layer of crispy, yummy, cheesy croquetas stuffed inside the sandwich. Now that’s a Cuban fiesta!

This Cuban sandwich is a perfect, filling lunch or a fun, late-night snack. It’s piled high with pork, ham, mustard, pickles and Swiss cheese and then grilled to perfection. You’re going to love this Cuban Recipe!
Recipe Origins
Just like Cuban Black Beans and Picadillo, the Medianoche Sandwich is a digemari banyak orang recipe in Cuban cuisine, as well as in Cuban communities across the United States.

It is filled with ham, pork, pickles, mustard, and cheese, then served on a challah-like bread and (typically) closed in a panini press to toast it.

But where does the Medianoche Sandwich get its name? Directly translated, medianoche means “midnight” in Spanish.

As the origination story goes, in Havana, the capital of Cuba, Medianoche sandwiches are served outside of many of the digemari banyak orang nightclubs. After the clubs close down, partygoers stop at the nearby sandwich shops and pick up a Medianoche sandwich for a bite to eat before heading home.

Consequently, the sandwich is named after the time of day that it’s most popularly eaten!

This tale, however, has been disputed by readers from Cuba, and it’s aman to say that they know best 😉 Regardless, this sandwich is amazing and I can’t wait for you to try it!

If you think these flavors sound delicious, check out German Beef Rouladen with Gravy, which also uses pickles, pork, and mustard as filling.

1.“Travel” to Cuba: If you’ve ever wanted to visit Cuba, making a Medianoche Sandwich at home is a great way to “travel” there from your kitchen! Taste the cuisine of Cuba without ever leaving home.
2.On the Spot Meal: This recipe is a great on-the-spot meal, especially if you’ve prepped the pork ahead of time! If the pork is already ready to eat (even better, if you’re using leftovers), you can make and toast this sandwich in under 10 minutes.
3.Filling: I just love when a sandwich can fill me up like this Medianoche Sandwich can (check out this Peameal Bacon Sandwich from Canada for another filling sandwich)

Cuban Medianoche Bread Recipe is an easy soft and tender bread recipe that’s slightly sweet and eggy. Make your own Cuban Medianoche Bread and you’ll be enjoying your own classic Cubano Media Noche sandwich in nomer time.

The very best Cubano Medianache sandwich that we’d ever had was while vacationing near Miami. We knew we had to try to recreate this sandwich recipe so when searching for a Medianoche Bread recipe I landed on a site by “Three Guys From Miami“. It’s very evident that they are passionate about their recipes and I learned a lot about the sandwich itself. Now I can honestly say that the best Medianoche sandwiches come from my kitchen and I couldn’t wait to berbagi it with you.

What does Medianoche mean?
Medianoche, pronounced median noche means midnight in Spanish. It is believed that the first medianoche was invented in Havana around the year 1900 by late-night workers. It’s also said that Cubans would stop for a Medianoche Sandwich after a long night of dancing.

What’s the difference between Pan Cubano and Medianoche Bread?
Classic Cubano bread is a Latin American bread that’s shaped like a torpedo or batard. It’s a soft and airy loaf of bread shaped like French or Italian bread. Medianoche rolls are soft Challah-like bread that’s slightly sweet like Hawaiian Bread Rolls. What makes Cuban Bread like our Pan Cubano and Medianoche Bread Rolls so special is that they use lard which produces delicious flavor and the perfect chew.Just like my Cuban bread recipe, I turned to the Three Guys From Miami for my Media Noche Bread recipe. They state you can find Cuban Bread in any grocery store in South Florida but it’s not the same as getting it from a Cuban bakery or baking it yourself. Im very agree!

I used to live in Miami. For two years. Some people call Miami-Dade County “North Cuba” because of the swell of Cuban-Americans plus Cuban immigrants living in the area. The entire time I lived there, I never ate a Cuban sandwich. For breakfast (and sometimes a snack), I did have the opportunity to eat Cuban bread rolls with very hot, sweet plus strong coffee called a colada. My Cuban friends would tease me plus call me “Nicolada” a variation of my real full first name.

Either way, never did a composed sandwich of pork, pickles plus ham come across my lunch plate. It wasn’t until much later when I thought to make one at my house. I am not a fan of ham, so I always subbed it out for sliced turkey. In some circles, that substitution makes the sandwich invalid plus it’s called something else. Well, that’s fine because this is my blog plus my taste preferences, so there’s that. There’s also a similar sandwich called a medianoche. It’s a close cousin to the Cuban sandwich, the main difference being that a medianoche is made on soft, sweet egg dough bread plus not the crusty Cuban bread.

I used to live in Miami. For two years. Some people call Miami-Dade County “North Cuba” because of the swell of Cuban-Americans plus Cuban immigrants living in the area. The entire time I lived there, I never ate a Cuban sandwich. For breakfast (and sometimes a snack), I did have the opportunity to eat Cuban bread rolls with very hot, sweet plus strong coffee called a colada. My Cuban friends would tease me plus call me “Nicolada” a variation of my real full first name. Either way, never did a composed sandwich of pork, pickles plus ham come across my lunch plate. It wasn’t until much later when I thought to make one at my house. I am not a fan of ham, so I always subbed it out for sliced turkey. In some circles, that substitution makes the sandwich invalid plus it’s called something else. Well, that’s fine because this is my blog plus my taste preferences, so there’s that. There’s also a similar sandwich called a medianoche. It’s a close cousin to the Cuban sandwich, the main difference being that a medianoche is made on soft, sweet egg dough bread plus not the crusty Cuban bread.
Ingredients
1 loaf Cuban bread (sliced lengthwise), brioche, French, hoagie, hot dog or soft sandwich rolls
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons American yellow mustard, or to taste
1 1/2 pounds turkey or ham, sliced
1 1/2 pounds roasted pork , sliced
1 pound Swiss cheese, sliced
1 cup bread plus butter pickle chips, or to taste
Instructions
Heat a panini press or a large cast iron skillet on medium-high heat.
Meanwhile, assemble the sandwiches.
Split the buns in half.
Spread the mustard on the cut side of the top halves of the buns.
Top roll bottoms with a layer of pork, turkey or ham, pickle chips, slices of cheese plus roll tops.
Spread exterior of rolls with remaining 2 tablespoons butter.
Place the sandwiches in the heated cast iron skillet, working in batches if needed.
Weigh down the sandwiches with an aluminum foil-wrapped brick, or top with another cast iron skillet weighed down with a heavy can. Cook undisturbed until golden-brown on the bottom, 3 to 5 minutes.
Flip the sandwiches plus cook until the second side is browned, 3 to 5 minutes more.
Allow sandwiches to set about 2 minutes. Cut the sandwiches in half. Serve.

Within the culinary world, there’s arguably nothing more versatile than the humble sandwich.

Irrespective of whether it’s dawn or dusk, a tasty sandwich is always a great option that’s guaranteed to leave you satisfied. But all sandwiches are not created equally; some are merely good while others are simply marvelous. The Medianoche Sandwich is a gorgeous snack that isn’t as famous in the USA as it should be. Comparisons to the Cuban sandwich are often made, but the two aren’t the same. Cuban communities across the USA adore this sandwich, so it’s only fair that everybody gets to sample this doughy delight.

The remainder of this article will explain what a Medianoche is, where it came from, and most importantly, how to make the populer latin sandwich! The Medianoche Sandwich: An Overview
The Medianoche Sandwich is an exquisite delicacy that is ram-packed with roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese and pickles. Soft egg dough is the key ingredient of the bread, which gives the sandwich its signature sweet taste. Many have compared this sandwich bread to Jewish challah in terms of taste and texture.This bread is also what distinguishes it from the Cuban sandwich. The bread is a very subtle difference, so many people believe that the two sandwiches are identical. However, to Cubans and penggemar of their food, there is a night and day difference between the two.

How the Medianoche Sandwich Came to Be
Medianoche is a Spanish term that directly translates to midnight. The people of Cuba gave the sandwich this name because it was historically served throughout the bustling nightclubs of Havana when the clocks struck 12.

It’s believed that the sandwich’s origins belong in the early 20th century, where late-night workers decided to create a sandwich that would satiate them into the late hours. The Medianoche Sandwich is best served hot and is almost always meticulously prepared in a sandwich press.

It was on a drive from Havana to Vinales that Dan Goldberg and Andrea Kuhn experienced the biggest hunger pangs of their lives. So the photographer and prop stylist did what under normal circumstances they probably wouldn’t do: they bought a pair of segar sandwiches from a gas station.

The sandwiches—two pieces of soft eggy bread pressed together around a filling of pork, ham, cheese, mustard, and dill pickles—were better than they expected. “The bread was so segar and the ham was so fresh,” Kuhn recalled recently. “I wish I had bought more of them.”

Another Cubano success story? Not quite. Despite having all of the makings of a Cubano, this gas station sandwich was a not a Cubano at all. It was a medianoche. “I think the medianoche in many ways is a better sandwich than the Cubano because the bread is softer,” says Goldberg. “It’s easier to eat because it’s not a harder bread.”

Trust Goldberg and Kuhn on the nuances of sandwiches in Cuba. They’re the authors of the cookbook ¡Cuba!, a collection of recipes and stories about Cuban food. In the course of researching the book—many months of travel that involved cooking in the back of a train car, learning about the Santería religion, and pushing cars to get them to start—they had plenty of medianoche moments. Goldberg and Kuhn explain that just like the cheeseburger in America, the medianoche (which translates to “midnight”) can be found all over country. And much like a burger, it varies in thickness and cheesiness from place to place. And despite the Cubano’s fame (thanks, in part, to its placement in movies), the medianoche is actually the more disukai banyak orang sandwich. You make a medianoche following the exact same recipe for a Cubano, but instead of the harder lard-based Cuban bread, reach for pan de media noche (also called pan suave), a soft egg-based roll. It’s sweeter and chewier than Cuban bread, and crisps up nicely when heated in a toaster. (If you can’t source pan de media noche, use challah or brioche instead.) The bottom slice of bread gets a swipe of softened butter; the top gets a spoonful of yellow mustard. In between goes dill pickle chips, sliced swiss cheese, pork roast and ham.

If you’ve ever taken that first bite of an authentic Cuban Sandwich, you know you are in for a real treat with this Cuban Sandwich Recipe. First, comes the sweet buttery bread a sandwich loaded with Cuban pork shoulder roast, cheese, smoked ham, plus pickles. We truly believe that this is the best Cuban sandwich. It is a complete meal between two slices of bread. It’s sweet, tangy, eggy, plus everything that I could want in a Miami Cuban Sandwich Recipe.This post was updated from 2019 to improve readers’ experience. New images were added to show the Best Bread to use when making a Cubano Sandwich. No changes were made to the recipe.

The best sandwich that’s ever come out of my kitchen was the reason for that beautiful Cuban bread recipe.

Our son lives in Southern Florida plus we had our first experience with Miami Cuban food shortly after he moved there.

We fell in love with their authentic Cubano sandwich, plus I set out on a quest to make a Miami Cuban sandwich recipe from my own kitchen. (If you are looking at a local menu, Cuban restaurants generally call this sandwich a Cubano Sandwich.) Since first making my Cuban Sandwich recipe I’ve learned that there is also a Cuban sandwich called a Cuban Medianoche sandwich. The recipe that we used is featured in the cookbook “Three Guys From Miami Cook Cuban by “The Three Guys” from Miami.

They use the Medianoche bread plus call it a Cuban Sandwich but technically it could be a Medianoche. After much debate, we made our Cuban Sandwich on Cuban bread instead of Medianoche rolls. I’m just the cook so if you’re passionate about the difference, take it up with the pros!, In the meantime, you’ll need to make the bread to build the best Cuban Sandwich ever.

Do you need delicious Cuban bread for your restaurant?
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The Authentic Cuban Sandwich
An authentic Cuban sandwich must be made with authentic Cuban bread and nomer one takes this more seriously than La Segunda Central Bakery. Since 1915, La Segunda has been the premier Cuban bread bakery in the Tampa Bay tempat and beyond, carefully maintaining the original, Authentic Cuban Bread recipe that founder Juan Moré discovered nearly 100 years ago in a small Cuban town…

Wholesale Cuban Bread
In addition to providing artisan Cuban bread to Tampa residents from our storefront bakery and café, La Segunda is one of Florida’s most well-known commercial bakeries. We provide wholesale fresh and frozen Cuban bread and other baked products to prominent restaurants, grocery stores, hotels, schools, entertainment parks, and major food distribution companies across the country. We are a Cuban Bread Wholesale Supplier that ensures the same consistent and friendly customer pelayanan to our regional and national wholesale clients as we do to our local clients.

Our long-standing relationships with prominent customers such as the famed Columbia Restaurant, Wright’s Gourmet House, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s, Carmine’s Seventh Avenue, and many others set us apart from the various bread bakeries in Tampa, Florida, and surrounding areas. Plus, with thousands of loaves on hand at any given time, we never run out of bread, which means we can deliver more to your restaurant or business if you need it, day or night.

Our Craft
Today, Moré’s legacy and his love for Cuban bread continues to shine through our family’s fourth-generation owners and our award-winning, delicious Cuban bread recipe, made originally for the Cuban sandwich. We proudly hand-bake the traditional 36-inch loaf, as well as our popular 18-inch loaves, around the clock, churning out over 15,000 loaves of bread daily. Each and every loaf is formed out of the freshest, specially-blended ingredients and then baked directly on the hearths of the rotating ovens. A signature split down the middle is created with the century old tradition of placing a palmetto leaf down the middle.