for the love of mayonnaise a blog about sandwiches.

I don’t like rye bread.

I don’t like sauerkraut.

I don’t like thousand island dressing.

I don’t like corned beef.

I don’t like swiss cheese.

I love reubens.

True story.

Somone had the right idea when they came up with this sandwich. Whether it was in fact Reuben Kulakofsky from Omaha, Nebraska, or the New York delicatessan owner Arnold Reuben from Germany, or Arnold’s chef Alfred Scheuing who made it for Arnold’s son and whether or not this happened in 1914 or sometime in the 1930′s, I don’t really care.

But my heart does hurt for that person who has not rightly been given credit. They should have won the nobel peace prize as well.

Anway, my point is that, this sandwich, even for someone like me who does not like one part of it, enjoys the sandwich as a whole. Loves the sandwich as a whole. The creator was a genius.

I used to make them for customers in my bagel shop and I always thought how delicious they smelled but never ate them because I don’t like anything about them. Then one day I caved and I have loved them ever since.

Now let me make this clear. Not only is the origin of the reuben, uncertain but the original contents are as well. Some say the original did not contain sauerkraut. Some say it did not contain corned beef and was not grilled. So to say that something is or is not a reuben is a slippery slope.

Granted, if you request a croissant with strawberry cheesecake piled on top, sprinkled with chocolate shavings, I don’t believe anyone will understand that that is what you want if you say ‘reuben’ when you order.

Just like when you walk into a bagel shop and you order a ‘reuben’ on wheat bread, with turkey instead of corned beef, no thousand island, american instead of swiss and no sauerkraut. THIS IS NOT A REUBEN. It is a turkey sandwich. Get over yourselves.

I feel like a reuben should contain at least some parts and pieces of the supposed original compilation. But feel free to substitute something, take something out, add something in.

Just make sure you change the name and patent it.

The name must start with ‘R.’ Like a Rachel uses pastrami instead of corned beef and coleslaw instead of sauerkraut. So if you use American cheese instead of swiss call it something like Ronald or Randy.

Okay so let’s get down to it. My variation contains bread & butter pickles instead of or in addition to sauerkraut. Some of these photos have the sauerkraut and some do not. This is because I am a heifer and ate two sandwiches in a row because I could not decide which one I wanted.

I decided to go with the bread & butter pickles because as I sat at my desk the other day (yes I day dream about food), I realized I have eaten entire jars of bread & butter pickles in the sandwich slice form but never once have actually eaten them on a sandwich.

I think this is because I fear the flavor of the pickle will over power the rest of the sandwich, which is the same reason why I don’t eat green peppers on my pizza. And why I keep other potent produce in the veggie drawer in the fridge so that they don’t sneak around and touch the other food inappropriately when the door is closed.

But I thought maybe this is the sandwich where you want that flavor to be super prominent. So I tried it. It was a success.

Oh and one other thing. I used a George Foreman instead of a panini press. Simply because I do not own a panini press. Scott claims a panini press is better. He’s all “a panini press just works better.” And I’m all “why?” and he’s all “well it’s got… *hand motions* and it’s… *more hand motions*” and I’m all “it’s a panini press not the shark from Jaws.” and he’s all “and it just is. *walks away*”

And that’s pretty much my husband’s logic most of the time. (Although I couldn’t get grill marks before all my sandwich innards came melting out so maybe a panini press is better I have no idea, don’t tell my husband.)

Turkey Reuben
Ingredients:
2 slices Rye Bread (I use the Beefsteak brand because they are nice a large but thin and it makes a perfect grilled sandwich)
Smoked Turkey (if you can avoid the lunch meat deli kind and get actual smoked turkey, that would be even better)
1 1/2 slices Swiss Cheese (I have told you before why you need 1 1/2 and not 2)
3 slices Bread & Butter Pickles (the sandwich slices)
Thousand Island Dressing
Sauerkraut (optional)
Butter

Directions:
The order goes, slice of bread, swiss cheese slices, turkey, thousand island, sauerkraut, pickles, slice of bread. I find this way grills the best with the least mess. Spread softened butter on both pieces of bread after it is all put together. (You should pretty much always put butter on bread that is being grilled in my humble opinion.)

Stick it in your heated panini press or GF. Grill until you have nice marks and everything is melted. Eat it and then make another one that is slightly different.