Uncover the story behind the Reuben sandwich

Origins

As is commonly the case with cult classics, the origins of the Reuben sandwich are fiercely disputed. One model locations its delivery in 1914, impressed by the silent movie actress Annette Seelos, identified for working with Charlie Chaplin. She supposedly requested Arnold Reuben, the German-Jewish proprietor of Reuben’s Restaurant on East 58th Street in New York City (now closed) to make her a sandwich of ham, turkey, Swiss cheese and coleslaw on rye, and the remaining, as they are saying, is historical past.

Another contender for the crown is the Blackstone Hotel in Omaha (presently named the Kimpton Cottonwood Hotel) within the Midwestern state of Nebraska. During an everyday poker sport within the latter half of the Nineteen Twenties, a participant named Reuben Kulakofsky is alleged to have requested a late-night sandwich of corned beef — a cured and slow-cooked brisket, moderately than the British model, which is minced and jellied — dressed with sauerkraut. Bernard Schimmel, the lodge’s proprietor, is credited with creating the masterpiece by including Swiss cheese and Thousand Island dressing, earlier than ending it in a scorching press. His granddaughter, Elizabeth Weil, later added weight to the story in The New York Times, noting his typewritten specs calling for kosher dill pickles, a radish rose and potato chips on the aspect. The sandwich turned successful on the lodge’s menu, later profitable the National Sandwich Idea Contest in 1956. Keen to embrace the native lore, Omaha has since declared 14 March as National Reuben Sandwich Day.

Whatever its origin story, by the mid-Twentieth century, the Reuben was a agency favorite in New York’s Jewish delis. It benefited from postwar standardisation, when menus from Midtown to the outer boroughs started to echo each other and a good suggestion might journey shortly on rye bread alone. Repetition quickly did the remaining: the extra it was served, the extra the grilled sandwich felt as distinctly New York because the Empire State Building.

How it’s made

This hulking sandwich is created from a satisfyingly quick checklist of elements: corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and rye bread. For the dressing, it’s both Russian or Thousand Island, each mayonnaise-ketchup primarily based, the previous a barely spicier model with paprika and Worcestershire sauce added.

To put together, the bread is buttered, dressing is unfold after which layers of meat, fermented cabbage sauerkraut and cheese are added earlier than the sandwich is closed and pressed in a scorching skillet. As the bread toasts, the rubbery cheese melts into the dressing, binding the entire thing collectively.