TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla — As we proceed to have fun Hispanic Heritage Month, we need to spotlight a delicacy in Hispanic tradition that you just’ve most likely tasted as soon as or 100 instances.
“The Cuban sandwich comes from Cuba, it comes from Havana in explicit, it was popularized and re-popularized everywhere in the world and right here in Florida, particularly,” Andy Huse, author of ‘The Cuban Sandwich – A History in Layers, said, “As far as what is a real Cuban, that all depends on who, when, and where you are and that could fluctuate quite a bit.”
Huse told ABC Action News it was an expensive sandwich with imported ingredients.
“It’s always been a working man’s sandwich and it really began as a snack for the elite,” Huse added.
While a Cuban sandwich has modified through the years and its viewers has expanded, Huse stated a actual Tampa Cuban has to have two elements.
“It’s gotta have the salami, and it’s gotta have good old, crusty Cuban bread,” Huse defined.
“We wanted to see how it’s done in the bay area, so we took a drive to Temple Terrace to try a Cuban sandwich from a local small business that, for the last three years, has held the title for the Best Tampa Historic Cuban Sandwich.”
“Our Cuban bread is from St. Pete,” Casey Schoonover, owner of Cozy Coffee Café in Temple Terrace, said.
He told ABC Action News that he had changed his recipe at least 100 times, but now it’s perfected.
“We put some regular mustard on it… Got to have the right pickles… Then you have your ham… Salami… Swiss cheese… A nice, good layer of pulled pork on there… Then we put it in there just like that,” Schoonover defined.
Let it sizzle in its secret sauce and there you might have it; A Tampa Cuban Sandwich. And whereas this scorching plate takes house awards on the Cuban Sandwich Festival, in the end, Huse stated there isn’t any improper strategy to make it.
“The greatest Cuban is the one which tastes like house to you,” Huse stated.