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Pan con lechón (Cuban roast pork sandwich)

Name: Pan con lechón (Cuban roast pork sandwich)
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 3 limes; 1 orange; 1 chicken stock cube; 500g leftover roast pork, ideally with crackling; 1 onion; 1 tbsp dried oregano; Small bunch coriander; 200ml mayonnaise; 1 tbsp hot sauce; 2 garlic cloves, finely grated; 1 large tomato; 1 large avocado; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 4 brioche buns (I like St Pierre brand)

By: Liam Barker

Published: 13 Feb 24
Updated: 25 Mar 24

Pan con lechón (Cuban roast pork sandwich)

Chef Liam Barker shares his recipe for pan con lechón. This Cuban sandwich is an epic construction of leftover roast pork with crisp crackling, zingy onions, tomato, avocado and herbs inside a brioche bun.

Liam says: “Lechón is one of my favourite Sunday dinners – slow-roast pork with crispy skin is one of the best things in life. There are so many varieties of roast pork around the Caribbean from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico to Colombia, all based on the same concept of low-and-slow cooking. It’s often big cuts of pork being slowly roasted off during special celebrations, so there’s often leftovers. This is a traditional Cuban way of using up lechón, but it can be used for any roast pork.”

Liam Barker began his culinary career at Corrigan’s Mayfair before starting his own Caribbean food pop-up concept across London and Stockholm, heavily influenced by Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados and the Colombian coast. On his social channels @chef.liam, and in his latest project ‘Food Education’ on YouTube, Liam’s goal is to teach how we can all be more sustainable in our use of food, as well as bridge the gap in food education.

Easy
February 2024

Test kitchen approved

Serves 4
Hands-on time 30 min

Nutrition: Per serving

Calories: 953kcals
Fat: 71g (13g saturated)
Protein: 41g
Carbohydrates: 33g (11g sugars)
Fibre: 3.7g
Salt: 1.2g

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Ingredients

3 limes
1 orange
1 chicken stock cube
500g leftover roast pork, ideally with crackling
1 onion
1 tbsp dried oregano
Small bunch coriander
200ml mayonnaise
1 tbsp hot sauce
2 garlic cloves, finely grated
1 large tomato
1 large avocado
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 brioche buns (I like St Pierre brand)

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Method

Heat the oven to 180°C fan/gas 6. Squeeze the juice of 1 lime and the orange into a saucepan, add the stock cube and 500ml water, then bring to the boil. Remove and set aside the skin from your roast pork, then roughly shred the meat with your hands or two forks. Add the shredded pork to the orange-lime stock and simmer for 20 minutes. Put the pork skin on a tray in the oven to get it back to crispy chicharrón (crackling) – this will take about 20 minutes too but keep an eye on it.
Meanwhile, finely slice the onion and tip into a bowl. Add the zest and juice of 1 lime, a generous pinch of salt and most of the oregano.
Finely chop the coriander and add half to the mayonnaise in a bowl. Stir in the zest and juice of the final lime, along with the hot sauce and grated garlic.

Finely slice the tomato and season with salt, pepper and the remaining oregano. In another bowl, smash the avocado, mix with the remaining coriander and season well with salt and pepper.
Once the shredded pork has had its time it will be tender and juicy. Remove from the stock. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and cook the pork for 2-3 minutes so it caramelises a little. Transfer to a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
Halve the buns and add to the frying pan cut-side down to warm a little. Smash up the crispy pork skin into little bite-size pieces.
Now it’s time to build your sandwiches. On the bottom part of the buns start with the tomato, then the shredded meat, onion, crispy skin and mayo. Lastly smear the avocado onto the cut side of the top part of the buns, then crown your pan con lechóns.