Reuben Sandwich

Corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing or 1000 Islands dressing sandwiched in rye bread and grilled: that is a Reuben sandwich, which any New York foodie will tell you was created at Reuben’s Delicatessen. Arnold Reuben (who is believed to have invented the double decker sandwich and was the first New York restaurateur to name sandwiches for celebrities) said he first made it in 1914 as a late-night, clean-the-kitchen dish for an actress who wanted an especially hearty sandwich. Nebraskans have a different story, tracing it back to the Blackstone Hotel in the 1920s, where Omaha butcher Reuben Kulakofsky came up with the idea and shared it with his poker buddy, Charles Schimmel, the hotel’s owner. Schimmel started serving it for lunch in his dining room, known as The Plush Horse; and in the mid-1950s, Fern Snider, former Blackstone waitress, won the National Sandwich Idea Contest with the recipe. The Rachel is a Reuben modification that substitutes pastrami for corned beef. It is not uncommon for Reubens and Rachels to include cole slaw rather than sauerkraut.