Calle Ocho sausages. Stone crabs. Super Bowl food at Hard Rock Stadium has Miami taste

Shrimp cocktails and giant lobsters. Key West-style hot dogs. Calle Ocho Cubano sausages and 18-inch Cuban sandwiches. And stone crabs exquisitely presented in a martini glass. Those are just some of the dishes that Super Bowl fans will find Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.

Behind the taste and sophistication of the dishes, and especially the selection, will be a team of chefs inspired by the tastes of Miami.

Orlando Morales, senior executive chef of Centerplate, the event and food company that services Hard Rock Stadium, has one of the biggest responsibilities in this Super Bowl: Creating the menu for the fans at the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers.

Since the most important football game of the season is being played in Miami, the emphasis will be on Latino dishes influenced by Caribbean countries, specifically Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico, said Morales.

His favorite dish for his sixth Super Bowl is a super-mojo version of a traditional Italian porchetta. “We put spices on the pork belly, roll it up and roast it,” adding mofongo of plantain and yuca, he said.

The porchetta con mojo will be served in the private and very exclusive suites.

Another of his plates will be Skewered Pork Kan-Kan, a Puerto Rican favorite done upscale by Morales.

“We also have giant paellas that we will be cooking in front of the people in 34-inch pans,” said the chef, who also plans menus for Miami Dolphins and University of Miami football games as well as the Miami Open tennis tournament.

Judging from the size of the Cuban sandwiches and some of the Cuban sausages that will be offered Sunday, the dishes will shine not only because of their taste but because of their size.

“We want people to say, ‘Wow!’ when they eat. That’s why we took traditions and stirred them up,” said Morales, who has a regular kitchen staff of 80 and had to call in an extra 30 chefs who work for the Centerplate company in other U.S. cities.

Company figures show 2,700 Maine lobster tails will be served at the Super Bowl, along with 6,000 ribs, 1,500 steaks, 10,000 hot dogs and 10 vegan options.

Even though he has more than 30 years’ experience as a chef, and his Latin dishes have won praise from sports stars like Dan Marino, Morales said he will be a bit nervous Sunday because he and his team will be looking to prove their excellence.

“Only afterward do I remember to eat. I realize that I am very hungry and thirsty, and I grab everything I can find,” he said of his work on major events like the Super Bowl.

A native of Chihuahua, Mexico, Morales said some of his most memorable meals as a child were cooked outdoors at his father’s farm.

“We used firewood from pine and mesquite,” he recalled, adding that frijoles rancheros cooked with mesquite were unforgettable “because of that smokey flavor.”

He tries to recreate that tradition in Miami with his children by cooking with charcoal, but he knows it’s not the same.

He also doesn’t like the enchiladas served in the United States because they have a tomato sauce. The real ones, the ones cooked in Mexico, use red chiles, he said, adding it was one of his favorite dishes cooked by his mother.

“They also use Mexican cheese, from the north of the country, where there’s a lot of cattle,” he said.

That’s why, he noted, ingredients like chicken, cheese and nopales, a Mexican cactus plant, are so much fresher there.

“Then we put a fried egg on it, and that makes it special,” said the chef.