Frita Cubano Food

THE CUBAN FRITA BURGER: FRITA CUBANA

Steps:

• To make the sauce, mix all of the ingredients together in a small saucepan: ketchup (1 cup), water (1/4 cup), vinegar (1 tablespoon), sweet paprika (1 1/2 teaspoons), cumin (1 teaspoon), salt (1 teaspoon), oregano (1/2 teaspoon) and sriracha (1/2 teaspoon). Cook at a gentle simmer, partially covered, for 5 minutes. Sauce can be made a day ahead and refrigerated until ready to use.
• Peel the potatoes and shred them on a box grater or in your food processor with the coarse shredding blade. Swish them in a bowl of cold water, pour out cloudy water, and repeat until the water is clear. Just before frying, drain them in a colander and dry them well by squeezing them between several clean absorbent dish towels. The dryer the better for getting them crisp and brown. Pour oil into a heavy, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and fry the potatoes, in small batches, until they're golden brown. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and sprinkle with salt.
• Make the meat mixture in a large bowl or in a food processor. Combine ground meats with 1 cup of the onions and the garlic (2 tablespoons). Mix by hand or pulse a few times in the food processor, to combine. Add ketchup ( 3 tablespoons), cumin (1 teaspoon), paprika (2 teaspoons), smoked paprika (2 teaspoons) and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Mix by hand or pulse just until combine. Form the meat into 8 thin patties.
• Cook patties in batches, on a preheated flat griddle or in a frying pan coated with a little vegetable oil, over medium heat, for 2-4 minutes per side or until they're cooked to your liking. (I suggest medium rare to medium). Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• To assemble the fritas, spread some special sauce over the bottom half of a bun. Place a patty on top, add more sauce, some finely chopped raw onion and a big pile of shoestring fried potatoes. Spread a little sauce on the inside of the top bun and place it on top. Repeat with remaining burgers. Serve immediately.

FRITA CUBANA

Steps:

• Mix all ingredients and form into patties. Cook on the grill or in a frying pan. Serve on a traditional American hamburger bun.
• Makes four quarter pounders or six to eight standard patties.

CARNE FRIA AL ESTILO DE CUBA - (COLD MEATLOAF CUBAN STYLE)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300ºF.
• Mix all ingredients well by hand except for breading ingredients.
• Divide into 3-4 portions and roll each into a cylinder or log about 1-1/2"-2" in circumference.
• Place in plastic wrap; shape into logs and refrigerate for about 2 hours, until the meat is firm to the touch.
• First, roll the logs in beaten egg and then in Italian seasoned breadcrumbs or cracker meal or dry bread crumbs.
• Roll each log separately and wrap in foil making sure the seams are well sealed.
• Place on an ungreased baking sheet.
• Bake for an hour.
• Remove from oven DO NOT open foil.
• Allow to cool until it reaches room temperature.
• Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
• Cut into thin slices and serve cold with toasted pita chips, Carr's water biscuits, or Parmesan rosemary crisps.
• As a nice topping, you can use a slice of hard boiled egg and a strip of red pimento on top.