Sorry I've been away so long, but I have been enjoying the holidays this year more than usual.
This year I went back home to Florida for Christmas to visit my Dad. The visit was full of surprises, and while some were bittersweet I had a great time visiting my family and some old friends. I still couldn't visit everyone, and I hope to get back sooner for my next trip home. Like people do, I reunited with family and friends over food.
This is a short tale of the food that I didn't realize I missed so much when I moved to the other side of the continent.
Cuban Sandwiches and Publix Subs
Years ago, I moved from Tampa to the Pacific northwest. When I relocated from Tampa, there were two things I realized that I missed about living there that I really hadn't anticipated:
- Cuban food
- Publix
Cuban Sandwiches
I mean, I knew that the temperature would be different going from Washington down to Florida. I suppose I relocated partly because I knew the culture was different. But I did not appreciate the fact that there is barely any Cuban culture anywhere outside Tampa and (arguably to a lesser degree) Miami.
Many places across this great land serve what they call a Cuban sandwich. Nearly all of these frauds serve their Cuban sandwich on French bread. Some use panini. Once I saw a "Cuban" bagel. Sadly, many who eat these phony Cubans will never know the truth, never understand what they have been robbed of.
My first meal after I set down was a Cuban sandwich. The best Cuban sandwiches are in Ybor City, a section of Tampa just outside downtown where a cigar industry thrived before the embargo. The area is still filled with Cuban culture. If you have the time and the money, go have dinner at the Columbia, watch some flamenco, and have your mint muddled tableside in their signature mojito.
My Cuban sandwich wasn't from Ybor, but it was authentic and delicious.
Publix Chicken Tender Subs
Some people don't know. Some people are happy eating at Subway, munching away on their spongy bread, oblivious to the better world that exists in the heart of the Publix deli. Now, the Publix grocery store is an institution in Florida. They've long since expanded outside the state, but not outside of the southeast.
When you cross the continental divide, you get an almost entirely different selection of grocery store chains. There are a few other options, like more independent grocers, farmers' markets, and co-ops. But there is no Publix.
I don't always agree with the policies or business decisions Publix makes, but I do agree with their deli subs. The best choice among them by far is the deli chicken tender sub. Instead of deli meat, you get deep fried boneless chicken tenders along with tomato, lettuce, olives, whatever else you want, all on bakery-fresh bread and dripping with spicy goodness.
I enjoyed my chicken tender sub that night. The things are so big I ate half the next day. Now, these subs are good. For someone born and raised south of the south, a fried chicken sub sandwich was a treat I had missed. But they are not the rare commodity in other parts of the country that Cuban food is.
Noche Buena Caja China
It was nice to eat a sandwich and a sub, but the main event of this vacation in terms of food came on Christmas Eve.
We visited an old friend who was throwing an annual shindig to mark the holiday. Alberto is Cuban, and every year for decades now he has been inviting friends and family over to his house for a traditional slow-roasted mojo pork, the Noche Buena caja china.
Now, this is traditional "Cuban" food, but it is not a tradition that came from Cuba. The caja china tradition started in among Cubans living in Florida, which means in Tampa and in Miami. Since about the mid-80s Cuban families have made it a Noche Buena (aka Christmas Eve) tradition to eat slow roasted pork, and frankly that's a holiday tradition I can get behind.
The caja china is a "china box" that the pig is roasted in. Our friend has a roasting pit built out of cinder blocks, with one side and the top covered in sheet metal.
The entire floor of the box is covered in charcoal, and the pig is splayed out on the heavy-duty rebar grill. The whole pig slow roasts over the coals for somewhere around 12 hours - from early morning to early evening.
The pig is turned a few times and basted in Alberto's signature mojo sauce from a secret family recipe.I don't know what was in it, but I know it was delicious. I saw several generations of old friends, showed off my daughter to them all, and watched her have a blast playing while I caught up.
It was a great way to reconnect while I was back home, and a great way to celebrate the holiday.
Did you do anything special this year? Let me know in the comments.
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