Pork loin roast (Cuban Sandwiches)

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-25-2004
Pork loin roast (Cuban Sandwiches)
2
Sat, 03-01-2008 - 7:01pm

Did my brine and smoked my loin and everything turned out GREAT!


Here's the brine recipe I used for aobut 3 1/2 pounds pork loin roast (a 2 lb one and a 1 1/2 lb roast)


1 gallon cold water
1 C kosher salt
1 head garlic (about 10-12 cloves, peeled, lightly crushed)
1-2 T each oregano and cumin
1/3 C sugar free maple syrup


Bring about 2 C of the 1 gallon of water to a boil and add salt, garlic and spices.  Stir until salt is dissolved.  Add seasoned water back to gallon.


Place the meat in a container large enough to hold meat and brine so that meat is fully submerged.  Pour brine over meat and use plate to hold meat down if it floats.  Make sure meat is fully submerged. 


Let soak in brine approx. 2 hours per pound for pork loin roast.


Smoke over indirect heat until desired doneness is reached.  This timing is going to vary, because if you have one large roast, it will take quite a bit longer than my 2 smaller roasts did.  I cooked the small one about 75-85 min and the larger one about 90-100 min. 


The brining made a huge difference in the flavor--it had a great garlicky taste all the way through and just a hint of everything else.


 


I sliced this roast thinly after it cooled a while and used it to make Cuban Sandwiches.


To make 2 servings:


2 T each: lf mayo, spicy mustard, minced garlic (more or less depending on how you like garlic)
6 oz sliced pork roast
3 oz deli sliced ham
6 dill pickle slices (sandwich stackers)
2-3 oz swiss
12 Kavli thin crisp rye breads


Spread mayo/mustard mixture evenly over all crisp breads.
On half the breads, layer in order: pork roast, ham, pickle, swiss cheese.  Top with remaining crisp breads.  Heat in oven under broiler 2-3 minutes or microwave approx. 1 1/2 minutes.


These turned out really, really good!  I actually really liked the Kavli crispbreads for my "sandwiches" because it was crunchy, but warming it up made it just soft enough, and it had a light flavor that didn't detract from the rest of the sandwich.  Plus, I got to eat 3 of these "sandwiches" for 1 meal since 6 of the Kavli crisp breads are 1 grain servings.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-01-2004
Sat, 03-01-2008 - 7:11pm
Good idea to use sugar-free maple syrup.
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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-18-2006
Sun, 03-02-2008 - 8:29am

This sounds great!