Pollo a la Plancha

A 20th-century Cuban cafeteria staple — "a la plancha" simply means "on the griddle," a technique of searing on a hot flat metal plate. The dish became a fixture of Havana lunch counters by mid-century as a lighter parallel to bistec de palomilla, using the same mojo marinade and pounding technique on chicken breast. Carried to Miami after 1959 and now standard at nearly every Cuban diner.

Havana lunch-counter staple from the 1950s — boneless breast pounded thin and seared on a 230°C plancha. Sour-orange marinade caps at 30 minutes; longer and the citric acid denatures the protein into chalky rubber.

Boneless chicken breast — butterflied or pounded thin — seared on a flat-top griddle until the surface goes mahogany and lightly crusted. Sour-orange-and-garlic mojo carries through. Plate is the standard cafeteria template: white rice, black beans, fried plantains, a wedge of lime. The thin cut means edge-to-edge cooking in 3–4 minutes; longer and breast meat dries out instantly.

Two technical points. The cut is thin — breast butterflied or pounded to about 1/4 inch — so the meat cooks edge-to-edge before it dries. The marinade leans on sour orange (Seville/bitter orange); when it's unavailable, cooks blend sweet orange and lime juice as a stand-in. Marinating time varies by cook, from roughly 20 minutes up to a few hours, but most avoid going overnight, since the citrus acid gradually softens breast meat and over-long soaking turns the texture mushy. The griddle must be hot enough that the chicken doesn't stick when first pressed down (around 230°C / 450°F); a properly seared piece releases itself once the crust forms, which is the moment to flip.