Reuben Sandwich
Corned beef, Swiss cheese and quick-cooked sauerkraut on rye with a Russian-style dressing, griddled in butter until the bread is golden and the cheese melts.
Two men named Reuben claim it, and the evidence is DISPUTED. Wikipedia sums up both stories. In Omaha, Reuben Kulakofsky, a Lithuanian-born Jewish grocer, is said to have asked for a corned beef and sauerkraut sandwich at a weekly poker game at the Blackstone Hotel sometime between about 1920 and 1935; the kitchen added Swiss cheese and Thousand Island dressing on rye, and the sandwich went on the hotel menu. In New York, Arnold Reuben of Reuben's Delicatessen told food writer Craig Claiborne he created a "Reuben Special" around 1914, while a 1953 memoir by Bernard Sobel says it was improvised for an actress late one night. Omaha has declared March 14 Reuben Sandwich Day. The New York Times' Craig Claiborne titled a 1976 column "Whence the Reuben? Omaha, It Seems" (listed by Wikipedia), but nobody has found a menu that settles it.
🇺🇸 This one is American
Corned beef, Swiss cheese and quick-cooked sauerkraut on rye with a Russian-style dressing, griddled in butter until the bread is golden and the cheese melts.
🇮🇪 The original
The Irish original is a boiled joint of cured pork (Irish bacon) with cabbage and potatoes, finished with a white parsley sauce. See the Irish Bacon and Cabbage with Parsley Sauce recipe.
📖 : Corned Beef vs Pastrami: What's the Difference? → 📖 Origin story: Who Invented the Reuben Sandwich? Omaha vs New York →
Why it works the kitchen science
Dry the sauerkraut
Rinsing it and cooking off the liquid with vinegar and sugar keeps the sandwich from going soggy while adding back a bright tang (ATK).
Cheese on both sides, lid on
Shredded Swiss melts faster than slices, and covering the pan for the second side traps enough heat to melt the middle before the bread burns.
Step by step
- Step 1
Whisk the mayonnaise, chopped pickles, pickle juice and cocktail sauce in a small bowl.
- Step 2
Cook the sauerkraut, vinegar and brown sugar in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring now and then, until the liquid has evaporated, about 3 minutes. Tip it into a bowl and wipe out the skillet.
- Step 3
Spread the dressing on one side of every slice of bread. On 4 slices, layer half the cheese, then half the corned beef, all the sauerkraut, the rest of the corned beef and the rest of the cheese. Top with the other slices, dressing side down.
- Step 4
Melt 2 tbsp butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add 2 sandwiches and cook until golden underneath, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Step 5
Flip them, cover the skillet, lower the heat to medium-low and cook about 2 minutes more, until the second side is golden and the cheese has melted.
- Step 6
Move them to a wire rack, then cook the other 2 sandwiches in the remaining butter. Cut in half and serve.
Reuben Sandwich
Serves 4 · 4 sandwiches · 35 min total
Dressing
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup finely chopped sweet pickles, plus 1 tsp sweet pickle juice
- 2 tbsp cocktail sauce
Sauerkraut
- 1 cup sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
- 2 tbsp cider vinegar
- 1 tsp brown sugar
Sandwiches
- 8 slices hearty rye bread
- 4 oz Swiss cheese, shredded (1 cup)
- 12 oz thinly sliced corned beef (brisket, not round)
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
Method
- Whisk the mayonnaise, chopped pickles, pickle juice and cocktail sauce in a small bowl.
- Cook the sauerkraut, vinegar and brown sugar in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring now and then, until the liquid has evaporated, about 3 minutes. Tip it into a bowl and wipe out the skillet.
- Spread the dressing on one side of every slice of bread. On 4 slices, layer half the cheese, then half the corned beef, all the sauerkraut, the rest of the corned beef and the rest of the cheese. Top with the other slices, dressing side down.
- Melt 2 tbsp butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add 2 sandwiches and cook until golden underneath, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Flip them, cover the skillet, lower the heat to medium-low and cook about 2 minutes more, until the second side is golden and the cheese has melted.
- Move them to a wire rack, then cook the other 2 sandwiches in the remaining butter. Cut in half and serve.
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen, "Best Reuben Sandwiches" (Cook's Country, December/January 2009; online June 22, 2011), as written. ATK's dressing (mayonnaise, chopped sweet pickles, pickle juice and cocktail sauce) is its own hybrid of Russian and Thousand Island dressing, not either sandwich's original. Deli corned beef is fully cooked; if you use leftovers from our Corned Beef and Cabbage recipe or 4, they should be steaming hot by the time the cheese melts (USDA FSIS reheats leftovers to 165°F). America's Test Kitchen. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Want the Omaha version? Use Thousand Island; for the New York deli style, Russian dressing (Wikipedia notes the two are often swapped).
- Hearty rye holds up better than thin sandwich rye.
- Pastrami instead of corned beef is a common deli swap; with turkey and coleslaw it becomes a Rachel (Wikipedia).
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Reuben Kulakofsky invented it in Omaha. Disputed: the Omaha story rests on later newspaper accounts (Omaha World-Herald, 1965 onward, per Wikipedia); Arnold Reuben's family and Craig Claiborne's encyclopedia credit New York around 1914.
- The New York Reuben was the first, in 1914. Disputed: Arnold Reuben's own account; Bernard Sobel's 1953 memoir tells a different New York story, and another account credits chef Alfred Scheuing in the 1930s (Wikipedia).
- The original dressing was Russian. Disputed: Wikipedia says the original is described with Russian dressing, but its Omaha account says Thousand Island was on the first one.
- A Reuben must be grilled. Folklore: every version we read griddles it, but no origin story says so.
- Use brisket, not round. Documented as ATK's preference.
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