Making this Kentucky Boy Po-Boy Sandwich should come with a warning. You're gonna be shopping and cooking your heart out, making a total of 9 recipes in order to assemble this bad boy!
Ready to make a mess and drive yourself batty? Okay, here we go. I'll warn you right now, this is going to be a long post. There's lots of steps and 9 recipes, ok?
We're going to start by preparing and making the Pulled Cubano Pork. Either start the night before or wake up early the day of because your pork needs to marinate in Jared's Pork Rub, a seasoning blend consisting of 13 special seasonings for several hours or overnight. Then it is going to roast in the oven for several hours until it's fork tender and can be pulled and sprinkled with something called Chicken Salt, which consists of salt; pepper; cayenne; and paprika. This is going to be some very well seasoned and delicious pork, and we do love our pork in Kentucky!
While the pork is in the oven let's get started on the other 6 recipes. After all, this isn't idle hour. To heck with enjoying summer break, you have work to do!
Next you need to make your Kentucky River Beer Cheese and Special Sauce because we ALWAYS need time for our sauces and beer cheese to combine so the flavors meld. If you're unfamiliary with beer cheese it's a spreadable cheese and this one is made with purchased spreadable Cheddar cheese; beer; Bourbon; hot sauce, and seasonings and spices.
The Special Sauce is a mayo-based sauce that is unlike any other mayo- based sauce I've had. It's heavy on the mayo with some Dijon, sliced green onions and a lot of Parsley. It's herbaceous and oniony.
Then you're going to make a simple cornmeal dredge for your dill pickles slices and get some Fried Pickles going.
You'll want a hearty baguette or mini baguettes and you'll be ready to assemble your sandwich. I toasted my baguette, but that was not in the recipe. This is going to be ONE LOADED SANDWICH! You're going to start with a layer of the Special Sauce, followed by a layer of thinly sliced red onion, then shredded lettuce. Then you'll add the pulled pork, the beer cheese, the barbecue sauce, and top the sandwich with the fried pickles.
Next you'll need to pretend that you've had a long night out on the town because this is one of those sandwiches you'd probably eat in the middle of the night! There is A LOT going on and it's one of the messiest things I've ever eaten, but it is very good!
If you want a more simple sandwich I'd go with the baguette, a smear of beer cheese, pulled pork, barbecue sauce and maybe the fried pickles.
There are a lot of ways to serve this sandwich and all of them are delicious!
**Every summer I like to chose a cookbook or a special focus and do a summer cooking series. Some of the summer series that I've done in the past are: popsicles; ice creams; cookies; salads; and healthy recipes. One series I've always wanted to do is a series of southern summer recipes. So, this summer I chose a local cookbook from James Beard Nominee, Ouita Michel. Each week I will be cooking recipes from Ouita's Just A Few Miles South Cookbook.
*This is the last week of the Southern Summer Series!
Wallace Station Pulled Cubano Pork
Adapted from Just A Few Miles South
by Ouita Michel
3-3-1/2 pound boneless pork butt (shoulder)
1/4 cup Jared's Pork Rub (recipe follows)
Wallace Station Chicken Salt (recipe follows)
Rub pork butt with Jared's Pork Rub and refrigerate several hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 425F. Place pork butt in a baking pan and roast, uncovered, 30-40 minutes, until the rub begins to darken and char. Reduce heat to 300F. Remove roasted pork from the oven and add water to a depth of 1/2 inch in the pan. Cover and continue baking 1-1/2 - 2 hours, or until the internal temperature registers 200F and the meat is very tender. Remove the roast from the liquid and cool slightly. When the meat can be handled, discard any visible fat and pull the pork into shreds using two forks. Season lightly with Wallace Station Chicken Salt. The pork can be used to make quesadillas or tacos or tossed in barbecue sauce for pulled pork sandwiches. The leftover pan juices can be chilled, causing any fat to rise to the top and solidify. After discarding the fat, the rich broth can be used as part of the stock for Whitesburg Soup Beans.
Wallace Station Chicken Salt: Mix together 1/4 cup kosher salt; 1/4 teaspoon cayenne; 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; and 1/4 teaspoon ground sweet paprika and store tightly covered.
Kentucky Boy Po-Boy Sandwich
Adapted from Just A Few Miles South
by Ouita Michel
4 (6-inch) Po-Boy baguettes or French baguettes
1/2 cup Special Sauce*
24-28 thinly sliced red onion rings
2 cups (6 ounces) shredded iceberg lettuce
1-1/4 pound Wallace Station Pulled Cubano Pork*
1/2 cup Kentucky River Beer Cheese*
1/2 cup Bourbon Barbecue Sauce*
24 Fried Pickle slices*
For each sandwich split a baguette partway through, leaving a hinge. Open the bread and slather 2 tablespoons Special Sauce on the bottom. Cover with 6-7 onions rings; 1/2 cup shredded lettuce; 5 ounces pulled pork; 2 tablespoons warm beer cheese; 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce; and 6 warm pickle slices. Using a squeeze bottle helps distribute the barbecue sauce evenly over the sandwich ingredients. Repeat for more sandwiches. Serves 4
Special Sauce: Place 1 cup mayonnaise; 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard; 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt; 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard; and 1/4 teaspoon white and black pepper in a medium bowl. Set aside. Add 1/2 bunch curly parsley, stems removed; 2 green onions, thinly sliced; 1 clove garlic, chopped; and 1-1/2 tablespoons canola oil to a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth. Add this to the mayonnaise and spice mixture and mix well. Chill 30 minutes before using.
Kentucky River Beer Cheese: Immerse 2 (6-1/2 ounce) tubs spreadable Cheddar Cheese in a bowl of hot water until softened, or soften in a microwave 1 minute on 30 percent power. If the cheese is still firm, stir and continue to microwave on 30 percent power in 15-second increments until softened. In a medium bowl, with a mixer, whip cheese and 2 tablespoons Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale or your favorite beer; 1 tablespoons Kentucky Bourbon; 2 teaspoons Crystal hot sauce; 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce; 1/2 teaspoon onion powder; 1/2 teaspoon ground sweet paprika; 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic or 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder; 1/2 teaspoon white pepper; and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Continue to whip until well blended. Taste for seasoning. Chill until ready to use. Makes 2 cups.
Fried Pickles: Heat canola oil in a deep skillet or small kettle fryer to 350F. Drain 24 dill pickles slices slightly and dredge in 1/2 cup Weisenberger Mill Fish Batter Mix or Tyler's Cornmeal Dredge (1/2 cup all-purpose flour; 1/2 cup cornmeal; 1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder; 1/2 teaspoon onion powder; 1 teaspoon ground sweet paprika). Lower carefully into hot oil and fry for 4 minutes or until golden brown. Drain well. Use to garnish sandwiches or serve as a snack with remoulade for dipping.
