The Cheese Swap That Will Take a Classic Cuban Sandwich to the Next Level

The Cuban sandwich is a charcuterie icon, effortlessly blending textures and flavors to create a perfectly balanced and satisfying concoction of salty and slightly tart flavors. The best Cuban sandwich recipe features a Cuban bread base containing roast pork, ham, dill pickles, mustard and Swiss cheese. It’s unusual to see a variation without Swiss cheese, but a game-changing swap you can make to elevate this flavorful and tangy sandwich is to replace the usual ingredient with blue cheese.

By replacing the Swiss cheese in your Cuban sandwich with crumbly blue cheese, you upgrade the sandwich and introduce a unique element that brings a new tang to the sandwich’s tangy profile. Blue cheese pairs remarkably well with mustard and dill pickle, adding extra acidity without overpowering the salty and fatty elements of the meats. While Swiss cheese is a more neutral, nuttier base for all the tangy flavors, blue cheese highlights them with its slightly tangy taste, letting the bread and meat provide all the contrast.

Read more: 41 Must-Try Hot Sandwich Recipes

Blue cheese also improves the texture of the Cuban sandwich

Crumbly block of blue cheese – Nicolamargaret/Getty Images

The blue cheese also melts into a creamy texture when the sandwich is pressed and grilled, creating a luxurious counterpoint to the crusty bread and moist cuts of meat. This combination is both richly flavorful and perfectly cohesive. Blue cheese becomes slightly creamier than Swiss cheese, mixing further with the layer of mustard (and any butter you choose to add before grilling) to create a decadent sauce that coats the sandwich and leaves a lasting tang on language.

This combination may be too bold for some, but it’s worth a try for anyone looking to take their Cuban sandwich to the next level. It’s a simple swap that yields a more sophisticated flavor profile, amplifying the tantalizing contrast between salty and tangy (as well as between crunchy and chewy) that is at the heart of the sandwich. For those afraid of straying too far from the classic Cuban recipe, keep in mind that there are many regional versions of the sandwich in the United States.

For example, in Florida alone there are multiple variations, since Tampa chooses to add Genoa salami to its interpretation, while Miami excludes it. Regardless of the individual versions, the unifying factors are ham, roast beef, mustard, pickles, and – of course – the ubiquitous Cuban bread (although, in a pinch, Italian or French baguettes can also work).

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