RECIPES & ARCHIVES

Spicy brown mustard

2 or 3 thin slices roast pork

2 or 3 thin slices ham

2 or 3 thin slices Swiss cheese

2 or 3 thin slices mortadella (optional)

1 dill pickle, sliced long and thin

Butter

Spread the inside of the top piece of bread with mustard and the bottom piece with butter. Arrange the pork, ham, cheese, pickle, and mortadella (if desired) on the bread and close the sandwich. Although some like to spread butter lightly on the outside of the bread, Montrose Spa leaves it plain so that the bread gets crisper.

The following home-pressing method is adapted from ``A Taste of Old Cuba,'' by Maria Josefa Lluria de O'Higgins (Harper Collins, 1994).

If you have a sandwich press (a waffle iron with a griddle plate works well, too), preheat it. If not, warm a large, heavy skillet over medium heat.

With a sandwich press: Close the press around the sandwich, compressing it somewhat, and let it toast until it is heated through and lightly crispy on the outside.

With a skillet: Place the sandwich in the skillet and press it down with a flat, heavy object (a smaller cast-iron skillet works well). When the sandwich is lightly toasted on one side, turn it over and repeat.

Makes 1 Cubano.