For reasons that may never be known, this turned out to be the weekend to explore and enjoy Cuban foods – and enjoy we did!  Now, to be clear, we’ve never cooked or eaten Cuban food, other than as a tourist in Cuba many years ago.  I’m not sure that Cuban Libres and beach resort buffet options count as a true reflection of Cuban cuisine.  It all started, I think, with good weather that just begged for a day spent in the yard tending the smoker.  We settled on a pork loin but wanted to do something a little different from the regular ‘southern BBQ’ style.  Google is a wonderful thing…a search for ‘pork loin’ and ‘smoker’ turned up a smoked Cuban-style pork.  Perfect!  This was something different, and also a cuisine that we had never ventured into before.  It’s not like us to just leave it at one item though – if we’re having Cuban-style pork, of course the rest of the meal had to be authentic too – and there went the day. One google led to another, and eventually we had identified our meat, side, salad and even went as far as trying an authentic (we think) Pan Cubano (cuban bread).

I’m delighted to say that everything turned out beautifully.  In fact, we may never eat pork loin any other way, it was so good. Even though we have nothing to compare it to, the meal was delicious in every way and (we think) as authentic as we could possibly make it.  We now know that Cuban flavours are different from Caribbean or Mexican – an unique and subtle blend of elements from both.  We’ve now added ‘cuban-style’ to our epicurean repertoire.  If you haven’t tried it yet, be brave and give it a shot.  You won’t be sorry!

Here’s the menu we enjoyed last night:

Smoked Cuban-style pork loin
Mojo sauce (yes, this is the real name!!)
Rice and black beans
Avocado & Pineapple salad
Pan Cubano

Check back to see the recipes we used, but you can also try out this link for more recipes: Taste of Cuba

[And if you’re too young to know who Ricky Ricardo is – google it 🙂 ]