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Reuben sandwich
by Hayford Peirce, Peter Schmitt and Mary Ash (and Howard C. Berkowitz)
A Reuben sandwich is usually made with rye bread, corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Russian dressing or Thousand Island dressing, and is griddled, grilled, or fried and served hot. The corned beef is sometimes replaced with pastrami or thinly sliced ham; the sauerkraut is sometimes replaced with cole slaw; and sometimes the bread is toasted. In these, and similar cases, the sandwich is then frequently called a Rachel. Although generally served hot, it can also be served cold.
The Reuben sandwich is part of American food folklore and is often associated with Jewish food traditions even though all its variants combine meat with cheese and therefore are not kosher.
Origin
Conflicting stories exist about the origin of the sandwich. The two main competing ones—both involving immigrants with Jewish roots—are:
- The Reuben sandwich was named for Arnold Reuben, who, in the early part of the 20th century, owned the now-closed Reuben's delicatessen in New York. Reuben reportedly created the sandwich to honor Annette Seelos, an actress, in 1914.
- Alternatively, the sandwich was created by Reuben Kay, a Omaha, Nebraska, grocer, who made the sandwich during the course of a poker game. His sandwich then won a national contest the following year.
In order to clarify the etymology of Reuben sandwich for the Random House College Dictionary, which cited New York City as its origin, Jim Rader thoroughly researched the two claims after a 1989 complaint by a Nebraskan reader but without arriving at a definite answer. .... (read more)