OK. Cuban sandwich stuff gets me out of my LTH slumber, even now. Here’s the orthodoxy. A lot of experience and research has gone into this over the years.
—Required ingredients:
Cuban bread (almost an instant and universal disqualifier; are “tacos” in Germany made with lavash really tacos?).
Ham - a good baked city ham is best, but boiled Krakus style is common.
Swiss/Emmenthaler.
Sour pickles (Mt. Olive is a typical choice).
Lechon, pulled or sliced, though more of the latter these days. This typically makes or breaks the sandwich, usually breaks. Run from any place using the old deli “roast pork” coated in paprika.
Yellow mustard.
—Established traditional options:
Genoa salami (once required in Tampa, fading as a standard item there; but see the highly regarded Little Bread in Miami, which includes it).
Butter/margarine. Both sides.
Mayo-often mixed 50/50 with yellow mustard, a universal Cuban condiment.
Sliced turkey (Tampa addition that exists more in historical legend than reality; kept alive and relevant by the great Wright’s in Tampa).
Lettuce and tomato (originated in Tampa, now also common in Miami, including Versailles; with mayo, this is a “deluxe” - I dislike this, but it’s very common in the places that define the sandwich).
Bacon and/or fried egg. Mostly Miami, sometimes designated as “super”. Predates the trend to put an egg or bacon on everything.
Shoestring “fries” from a can. Everywhere on everything in Miami for some reason. No.
Pressed is a choice, not a requirement. If the bread is mere hours old or less and good, why would you? - see also bagel toasting. Otherwise pressing hides a multitude of problems and improves what can be a clunker of a sandwich.