A uniquely Cuban sweet-and-savory sandwich layering sliced turkey, cream cheese and strawberry jam on soft Cuban bread, then griddled until warm and gently crisp.
The sandwich is named for Elena Ruz Valdés-Fauli, a well-to-do Havana socialite born in 1909. As a teenager in the late 1920s she became a regular at the El Carmelo café in the Vedado district (at 23rd and G streets), where she ordered an off-menu combination of her own: cream cheese, sliced turkey and strawberry jam on the sweet 'medianoche' bread. By most accounts she ordered it so often that she herself suggested El Carmelo add it to the menu to spare her re-explaining it to every waiter; the café named it 'the Elena Ruz' in her honor. It eventually got a neon sign in the window and sold for 25 centavos — pricey next to a 5-centavo medianoche or a 10-centavo Cuban sandwich. Cubans later carried it into exile in Spain and Florida.
Warm and soft, it plays cool tangy cream cheese against sweet strawberry jam, with savory turkey grounding the whole thing. The result is improbably balanced — like a dessert and a deli sandwich made peace.
Gentle griddling softens the cream cheese into a silky binder and warms the jam so its sweetness blooms, while the bread's light toasting adds just enough structure to hold the soft, contrasting fillings together.
Variations
with chicken instead of turkey, on white toast, with raspberry jam, untoasted cold version
On the Palate
Where Elena Ruz sits in the Cuban flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 1How it's made
8 steps · 8 min
- 12 min
Slice a soft Cuban or medianoche roll lengthwise.
- 21 min
Spread cream cheese on one cut side.
- 31 min
Spread strawberry jam on the other cut side.
- 41 min
Layer thin slices of roast turkey between them.
- 51 min
Close the sandwich gently.
- 61 min
Butter the outside lightly.
Watch outButter the outside thin and even — a thick smear fries greasy instead of crisping the crust.
- 74 min
Griddle or press until warm and lightly toasted.
Watch outPress just until the crust is golden and the cream cheese goes silky inside — overdo it and the jam runs out the sides.
- 81 min
Cut in half and serve immediately.
