I was going to post a recipe I concocted for Oyster Beef that is delicious and healthy, but instead I was in the mood for this:
So I made it and ate it! That is the best thing about being the cook, you can cook what you feel like eating (unless you are taking requests, i.e, your kids are home.)
I have a confession to make. I had never eaten pastrami until about five years ago. I know this is a sad and pathetic statement, but it is true none the less. But when I did have my first taste, it became sort of like crack cocaine for me. I know what crack is like because I read the celebrity magazines in airports, and so many celebrities say they used to be (or are) on it, and they love talking about it because they are super highly paid role models and all.
Anyhoo, this dinner is a good as it looks! It is of course a Reuben Sandwich with a twist (I stole this twist concept from Fae at faestwistandshout. Check out her blog…man can she cook!) I paired it with German Potato Salad With Fresh Dill, Pickled Red Cabbage, Claussen Dill Pickle Halves, and really cheap wine. Just kidding I don’t really drink much, but my hubby paired it with good German Beer. (I told you before he tends to be a tippler).
Believe it or not, I researched extensively how to make a perfect Pastrami and/or Reuben Sandwich a couple of years ago on google and read hundreds of accounts which I found informative and highly entertaining. This sandwich is incredibly easy to make, which doesn’t, in any way take away from how delicious it is!
Passions on this subject run VERY HIGH especially among New Yorkers who rightly feel a proprietary interest in the sandwich. There is some debate about who precisely invented the Rueben. Note this reference from Wikipedia who is infallible, knows, and sees all:
Origins: One account holds that Rueben Kulakofsky (sometimes spelled Reubin, or the last name shortened to Kay), a Lithuanian-born grocer from Omaha, Nebraska, was the inventor, perhaps as part of a group effort by members of Kulakofsky’s weekly poker game held in the Blackstone Hotel from around 1920 through 1935. The participants, who nicknamed themselves “the committee,” included the hotel’s owner, Charles Schimmel. The sandwich first gained local fame when Schimmel put it on the Blackstone’s lunch menu, and its fame spread when a former employee of the hotel won a national contest with the recipe.[2]
Other accounts hold that the reuben’s creator was Arnold Reuben, the German owner of the once-famous, now defunct Reuben’s Delicatessen in New York[3] who, according to an interview with Craig Claiborne, invented the “Reuben special” around 1914.[4] The earliest references in print to the sandwich are New York-based but that is not conclusive evidence, though the fact that the earliest, from a 1926 edition of Theatre Magazine, references a “Reuben special” specifically does seem to take its cue from Arnold Reuben’s menu.
A version of that story is related by Bernard Sobel in his book Broadway Heartbeat: Memoirs of a Press Agent and claims that the sandwich was an extemporaneous creation for Marjorie Rambeau inaugurated when the famed Broadway actress visited the Delicatessen one night when the cupboards were particularly bare.[5] Some sources name the actress as Annette Seelos, and note that the original “Reuben special” sandwich did not contain corned beef or sauerkraut and was not grilled; still other versions give credit to Alfred Scheuing, Reuben’s chef, and say he created the sandwich for Reuben’s son, Arnold Jr., in the 1930s.[2]
I dedicate this post to New York, America’s finest city and to all East Coast residents who are still facing such hardship. We are pulling for you all! And we know you invented the Reuben and should get a gynormous tax break for it.
Rueben Sandwich
Best Deli Quality Rye
Best Quality Pastrami (look for lean pastrami and ask the deli to select the fresh pinker slices
from the back of the stack!)
Lacy Swiss Cheese *
Inglehoffer Stone Ground Mustard
Hengstenberg Pickled Red Cabbage With Apple
1 T Butter
Melt butter in frying pan. GENEROUSLY slather mustard on both pieces of bread. This is authentic mustard so it is mellow in flavor, not sharp like cheaper yellow mustard. You can, and will want to use much more of it than you ever would the yellow stuff. Lay two slices of Swiss on bread.
Top with 1 T red cabbage scooped with slotted spoon to drain liquid. You can also, of course, use sauerkraut, which is more authentic, but I don’t care for it. My husband does. So he gets sauerkraut served in the same fashion.
Top with a generous slab of pastrami, read generous! (The most hilarious pastrami sandwich I ever had was in Utah recently. They made it like a bologna sandwich on white bread with mayo and ONE slice of pastrami. This wasn’t a pastrami sandwich, it was a mistake!)
Fry until a deep golden brown and the cheese is melted and cabbage heated. It all happens just like a grilled cheese sandwich. Just as easy-peasy.
Serve with half a chilled Claussen pickle drained.
*I am going to be doing a post soon on all things Swiss based on my very limited knowledge of the subject, and adoration of the country. But for now, content yourself with this, again from the all wise, all knowing, Wiki:
In general, the larger the eyes in a Swiss cheese, the more pronounced its flavor because a longer fermentation period gives the bacteria more time to act.[6] This poses a problem, however, because cheese with large eyes does not slice well and comes apart in mechanical slicers. As a result, industry regulators have limited the eye size by which Swiss cheese receives the Grade A stamp.[7] Baby Swiss and Lacy Swiss are two varieties of US Swiss cheeses. Both have small holes and a mild flavor. Baby Swiss is made from whole milk, and Lacy Swiss is made from low fat milk.[8]
You can make a pastrami sandwich in the same way as a Reuben, which is lower in fat, and still awesome, by omitting the kraut/cabbage and not frying the sandwich. Take each slab of pastrami, wrap in moist paper towels, and microwave for 20 seconds until warmed. Put on plate. Top with cheese and melt for 10 more seconds. Use spatula and transfer pastrami on to rye and you have your sandwich.
I would never have thought I could love pickled red cabbage until I ate it in Germany. Don’t judge it by the bad stuff you may have eaten. This is wonderful! I don’t want to make pickled cabbage however, and the Hengstenberg red cabbage is to die for. It is made in Germany and can be served cold on a hot day, or warm on a cold day. Just microwave each serving for 30 seconds in a small bowl. This cabbage is crisp, delicious, naturally slightly sweet, very good for you and has negligible calories. If you make the pastrami sandwich, rather than a Reuben, this is actually a low fat/quite healthy meal.
German Potato Salad is also a low calorie, healthy potato salad, as it contains no egg or mayonnaise. Don’t judge it either. It was another dish I never liked until I ate it in Germany. I love this recipe:
German Potato Salad
3 cups red potatoes, cooled, peeled and sliced
4 strips bacon cooked and minced
1 small onion minced
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 T chopped fresh parsley
1 T chopped fresh dill
salt to taste
Cook bacon and drain. Mince.
In same skillet, cook onions until clear; mix in the vinegar, water, sugar, parsley and dill. Bring to boil, stirring.
Remove from heat and let cool until warmish.
Gently mix in potatoes. Marinate in refrigerator for 24+ hours and serve cold.
Bon appetite! Essen! Desfruta su comida! Enjoy!
