Reuben Heaven: How Hard Could It Be…

I have no excuse other than the thought of sauerkraut just did not sound good to me. I am not a huge fan of olives or dill pickles so I just heaped all my already established dislikes upon the Reuben.

Lord forgive me for letting my preconceived notions of sauerkraut keep me away from this wonderful culinary experience.

When I got back from New York I could not stop thinking about the Reuben I had while we were there.

I began to think…..How Hard Could It Be….

After my customary Food Network search and reviewing several recipes I made myself a list and headed to the grocery store.

You will need a good rye bread, corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and the ingredients for the Russian dressing (recipe to follow) and butter or margarine.

I followed the recipe for the Russian dressing except for a few minor alterations noted with an asterisk*

Russian Dressing:

3/4 cups mayonnaise * (I used low fat mayo)

1/4 cup plus 2 to 3 tablespoons chili sauce

2 tablespoons sour cream * (reduced fat)

2 teaspoons chopped curly parsley leaves

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon minced Spanish onion *(I omitted the onion, strictly due to laziness on my part and not wanting to peel and dice an onion for just a tablespoon plus, the recipe suffered no ill effect for having left this ingredient out!)

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon minced dill pickle * (I used sweet pickle relish)

1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon grated horseradish *(I used a prepared horseradish spread)

1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Before you begin to assemble your sandwiches preheat your cast iron skillet or flat top griddle over medium head and let it get good and hot.

Depending on how you like to do it, you can butter the bread before or after you assemble your sandwich. I usually prefer to butter my bread before I assemble the sandwich.

Spread about a tablespoon of Russian dressing on each side of the bread.

A slice of Swiss cheese on each piece of bread, then an even layer of sauerkraut (about 1/4 cup) on one side of the bread

add a couple slices of corned beef,

Place sandwich on preheated griddle and brown on one side about two to three minutes.

Flip and repeat, please refrain from trying to eat it straight off the griddle…the melting cheese and crispy sizzle due tent to cloud the brain from logical thinking.

Slice and devour…

You can get the entire recipe here, Reuben!

On a “How Hard Could It Be?” scale I give it a 4, it was super easy!

The hardest part was making the Russian dressing from scratch but it was so worth it and the added bonus is having the dressing left over to make additional sandwiches later on was a plus. I think that my attempt was a worthy comparison, however, the corned beef I purchased was not nearly as tender or as flavorful as the one I had in New York.

I will be keeping a look out for a good source for authentic corned beef from now on!

Blessings

R