61 replies to this topic

[christine007]

Well,come see me in Cleveland, Ohio.
we don't have much going for us, but I can take you to more places that will serve us a perfect reuben, built to your specs. and so big, you'll be eating the rest of it the next day.

[ScottyBoy]

I do believe my favorite reuben in Oakland fits all your criteria. House pastrami, russian dressing, house kraut with melted swiss on dark toasted rye. So much good pastrami piled on the fixin's. And then some side stuff I don't really care about. This is a once a week thing for me.

[Pierogi]

I do believe my favorite reuben in Oakland fits all your criteria. House pastrami, russian dressing, house kraut with melted swiss on dark toasted rye. So much good pastrami piled on the fixin's. And then some side stuff I don't really care about. This is a once a week thing for me.

Close. So very, very close.....

And yet, so far away. Sorry Scotty, it's gotta be grilled ! A Reuben is a grilled sandwich, and as gfweb points out, its even better if the 'kraut is griddled before assembly. Toasted is not a Reuben.

It is, however, a very nice looking pastrami sandwich with cheese and 'kraut.

[ScottyBoy]

Damn! One element missing! Well they got a grill and I know the owner so we're gonna have a chat

[Shel_B]

I do believe my favorite reuben in Oakland fits all your criteria. House pastrami, russian dressing, house kraut with melted swiss on dark toasted rye. So much good pastrami piled on the fixin's. And then some side stuff I don't really care about. This is a once a week thing for me.

So where is this place? Name and address, please. I'm always on the lookout for decent pastrami and corned beef.

[ScottyBoy]

Oh it's Chop Bar near Jack London square. You should check out the fried chicken and waffles at Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland as well.

[gfweb]

Damn! One element missing! Well they got a grill and I know the owner so we're gonna have a chat

Proper grilling of thin buttered rye and toasting the kraut will be transformative.

BTW mini reubens make nice canapes.

[Shel_B]

Oh it's Chop Bar near Jack London square. You should check out the fried chicken and waffles at Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland as well.

Thanks for the pointer. I will definitely stop by. Their web site has piqued my interest.

I'm familiar with Brown Sugar. I'm not a big fried chicken and waffle fan, whether served together or separately. Brown Sugar's are good, though.

[Jaymes]

Proper grilling of thin buttered rye and toasting the kraut will be transformative.

BTW mini reubens make nice canapes.

Yes. They sure do.

In fact, that's one of our standard Superbowl Watching Party dishes.

I put my recipe in a previous "Superbowl Food" thread - Whatcha making for Superbowl?

[JAZ]

New York Magazine (nymag.com) recently ran this short piece on the resurgence of the Reuben.

What’s not up for debate, though, is that the Reuben, whoever invented it, is a world-class sandwich. Salty, tangy, fatty, and a little sweet, it’s got everything you could ask for—especially when properly buttered, griddled, and served hot. What’s curious, in this golden age of sandwich-making, is that, unlike the bánh mì, the BLT, and the grilled cheese, to name only a few, the Reuben has gone uncelebrated and been impervious to gourmet upgrades. That is, until now.

[annabelle]

Great.

It wasn't bad enough when we had to suffer through the "gourmet" burger phase. Now they want to come for our Reubens?

[GlorifiedRice]

http://www.townehous.../menu_lunch.htm

D'Ignazios Towne House restaurant in Media, Pa has a proper Reuben on its DAILY lunch Menu

[Gregg]

I take a small hunk of sauerkraut, flatten it into a patty approximately the shape of the bread I'm using, put it between two paper towels, roll a bottle or rolling pin over it to dry it out as much as possible so that it doesn't make the sandwich soggy, put my sauerkraut "patty" onto the grill for a couple of seconds, turn it once, then put it onto my rye bread that I've smeared with Thousand Island, and onto which I've first placed a few slices of corned beef, top the sauerkraut with a couple of slices of Swiss cheese, put the second piece of bread on top, smear it liberally with melted butter, put the whole assembled sandwich onto the grill with the buttered bread side down, smear more butter over the top piece of bread, grill until the bottom slice is crispy and crunchy, turn the entire sandwich over so that the other piece grills to crispy and crunchy perfection and the cheese melts and seals the whole thing together.

Often, I'll even put a weight on top of the sandwich while I'm grilling to be sure it winds up thin, crispy, crunchy, and perfect.

That's almost exactly how I do mine. I don't make the kraut into a patty, just dry it and toss it loose on the griddle long enough that it just starts to caramelize the edges. I like to add just a (very thin) slice of good pastrami, all pulled apart, to the corned beef and I also give the meat a quick run on the griddle. I think having the meat and kraut hot from the beginning just makes the cheese that much more...melty. Good Swiss cheese in a must, but I like to add just a little grated Comte' right in the middle. The weight on top is essential in my mind. Like Jaymes said, crispy, crunchy perfection.

ETA: Around here (Nebraska, home of the original) its mostly thousand island these days. I like to add just a little horseradish to a good store bought thousand island. Sounds weird, tastes great on the sandwich.

Edited by Gregg, 22 February 2012 - 09:22 AM.

[BadRabbit]

I love a reuben but prefer to make it at home as nobody else does it right. I like it classicly as described by others above (though I don't consider it a reuben if it's pastrami, corned beef is the classic, a pastrami reuben type sandwich is delicious though).

I will sometimes use dijon mustard instead of russian dressing but that probably makes it not a reuben as well.

[LindaK]

Observed recently on a local diner menu, two separate items: a reuben and a grilled reuben. The latter cost a dollar more. Unbelievable.

[Jaymes]

Observed recently on a local diner menu, two separate items: a reuben and a grilled reuben. The latter cost a dollar more. Unbelievable.

Well, it's certainly a lot more work to properly grill that sandwich after it's been assembled than it is just to pile a bunch of stuff on toast.

At least they're giving folks the option.

[Teri319]

Pierogi, have you tried Katella Deli in Los Alamitos? I'm pretty sure you can get one there. I live in Long Beach as well so if I hear of any other places I'll let you know!

[ScottyBoy]

OK, OK wait. Are we talking grilled or griddled here? Because the above reuben from my favorite spot was buttered and then toasted on a griddle.

When you said that it was close because it wasn't grilled I thought a grill, grill. Then seeing the above post talking about grilling sauerkraut threw me for a loop!

Will defend my local rueben to the death!

[annabelle]

Griddle or a flattop, Scotty. My mother used to make them on the flat sides of our waffle iron that had reversible irons, (one flat, one dimpled for waffles) like a panini.

[Old Timer]

Please allow me to throw my 2 cents into the mix.
Here's how I do our Reuben's.

Plop a decent amount of Kraut on the flattop and do the same with 4oz of good Corned Beef (I prefer Sy Ginsberg's)
Next I put 2 pieces of thick sliced rye on the flattop as well.
After a minute, I turn the kraut and put the corned beef on top of it, after which I add a slice of swiss cheese.
I cover that with a lid so the cheese melts.
After I turn the bread, I place the kraut/beef/cheese on top of one piece and slather Thousand Island on the other.
I then put the sandwich together and put a grill weight on top.
I leave this for about a minute, then turn it and do the same.
When it is done...

A gooey, cheesy, blend of corned beef heaven.

[Shel_B]

What's with Thousand Island on a Reuben? I always thought Russian dressing was traditional.

[BadRabbit]

What's with Thousand Island on a Reuben? I always thought Russian dressing was traditional.

1000 Island is just a variant of the original Russian and is easier to find if you are using bottled dressing. Also, lots of modern bottled "Russian" dressings seem to have dropped the mayo or yoghurt component(I know the one distributed by Alabama Sysco has)so 1000 Island is closer to the original than those .

ETA:

This is Wishbone's Russian dressing ingredient list:

corn syrup, soybean oil, water, tomato paste, high fructose corn syrup, distilled vinegar, salt, beet juice concentrate (for color), spices, lemon juice concentrate, yeast extract, garlic, xanthan gum, maltodextrin (corn, wheat), (sorbic acid, calcium disodium edta) used to protect quality, onion powder, natural flavors, sugar, onion, paprika


As you can see, there is no mayo/yoghurt component anymore (IYAM it's not really Russian dressing).

Edited by BadRabbit, 24 February 2012 - 07:31 AM.

[gfweb]

Good point about the Wishbone Russian. But good old homemade Russian dressing that uses Heinz ketchup has the following ingredients (as well as whatever is in the mayo)


TOMATO CONCENTRATE FROM RED RIPE TOMATOES, DISTILLED VINEGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, SALT, SPICE, ONION POWDER, NATURAL FLAVORING.

Not too bad I guess.

[Jaymes]

ETA: Around here (Nebraska, home of the original) its mostly thousand island these days. I like to add just a little horseradish to a good store bought thousand island. Sounds weird, tastes great on the sandwich.

Actually, I've been told that's basically McDonald's "secret sauce": Thousand Island dressing, and some horseradish.

[BadRabbit]

ETA: Around here (Nebraska, home of the original) its mostly thousand island these days. I like to add just a little horseradish to a good store bought thousand island. Sounds weird, tastes great on the sandwich.

Actually, I've been told that's basically McDonald's "secret sauce": Thousand Island dressing, and some horseradish.

The traditional Russian has horseradish in it. 1000 Island is essentially Russian minus horseradish plus pickles.

[Jaymes]

Interesting side discussion about the Russian/Thousand Island dressing. And, thanks to this thread, made corned beef and cabbage for Wednesday night. And last night? Reubens, of course. Nice, flat, crispy, grilled Reubens.

As I was eating, I was thinking that, for me anyway, it's the perfect sandwich.

[kayb]

I take a small hunk of sauerkraut, flatten it into a patty approximately the shape of the bread I'm using, put it between two paper towels, roll a bottle or rolling pin over it to dry it out as much as possible so that it doesn't make the sandwich soggy, put my sauerkraut "patty" onto the grill for a couple of seconds, turn it once, then put it onto my rye bread that I've smeared with Thousand Island, and onto which I've first placed a few slices of corned beef, top the sauerkraut with a couple of slices of Swiss cheese, put the second piece of bread on top, smear it liberally with melted butter, put the whole assembled sandwich onto the grill with the buttered bread side down, smear more butter over the top piece of bread, grill until the bottom slice is crispy and crunchy, turn the entire sandwich over so that the other piece grills to crispy and crunchy perfection and the cheese melts and seals the whole thing together.

Often, I'll even put a weight on top of the sandwich while I'm grilling to be sure it winds up thin, crispy, crunchy, and perfect.

That's almost exactly how I do mine. I don't make the kraut into a patty, just dry it and toss it loose on the griddle long enough that it just starts to caramelize the edges. I like to add just a (very thin) slice of good pastrami, all pulled apart, to the corned beef and I also give the meat a quick run on the griddle. I think having the meat and kraut hot from the beginning just makes the cheese that much more...melty. Good Swiss cheese in a must, but I like to add just a little grated Comte' right in the middle. The weight on top is essential in my mind. Like Jaymes said, crispy, crunchy perfection.

ETA: Around here (Nebraska, home of the original) its mostly thousand island these days. I like to add just a little horseradish to a good store bought thousand island. Sounds weird, tastes great on the sandwich.

Can I come eat with y'all? It'd be worth falling off the gluten-free wagon.

A few years ago, when my father was ill, I would go home every weekend. One weekend he said, "I wish I could have a good Reuben." So I went to Fresh market, got the good corned beef, the good swiss, the good sauerkraut, good rye bread, took it to his house, made him a Reuben. He thought it was wonderful, and I took the makings of a Reuben to his house every weekend from then until he passed on, and I've been inordinately fond of a Reuben ever since.

However, the best one I ever had was in the Senate dining room.

[Mano]

Sorry, a Reuben's not a Reuben unless it's made with marbled rye.

[Jaymes]

What's with Thousand Island on a Reuben? I always thought Russian dressing was traditional.

As somebody said, good, thick, commercially-prepared Thousand Island is much easier to find than Russian. And as it's basically the same flavor profile, that's what I go with.

I like Marie's. That's the thick salad dressing you find with the chilled produce.

Someone mentioned Dijon mustard.

Particularly interesting to me is the fact that the recipe for the mini-Reubens that I always make for football/Superbowl watching parties (the exact recipe is in one of those "Superbowl" threads, if anyone's interested) call for the traditional Reuben ingredients arranged on slices of party rye bread and then run under a broiler for a few minutes for the cheese to melt. That recipe calls for Dijon. I decided to try it with the more traditional spread for Reubens - Thousand Island or Russian - and it was nowhere nearly so good as with Dijon. I was quite surprised at that. I like my sandwiches much better with the Thousand Island/Russian, but those mini-Reuben bites just didn't come out as flavorful with the traditional as they did with the Dijon. Not sure why, but I think it might be that the mini-Reubens have no top piece of bread, so you've got half as much dressing and you need it to pack more of a flavor punch.

[Gregg]

I didn't realize that horseradish was a traditional component in Russian dressing and REALLY didn't know that McDonalds added it in their 'special sauce'. It's been a while since I've had a Big Mac though. Just a little horseradish is spectacular with the corned beef, mixed into a good quality 1000 Island dressing.