mmmm...Reubens!!!

So this is not a recipe really but more of a love letter to the Reuben. I woke up yesterday with a killer craving for a Reuben. It could not be ignored! However, my lovely NYC-Dominican-land grocery store decided to fail me for the first time ever. The only Reuben-esque (lol) meat they had was Turkey Pastrami. FAIL! What was there left for me to do but to buy a whole Corned Beef Brisket and boil it up? For those of you how aren't Irish or have never cooked Corn Beef, this meant waiting, at the very least, 3 hours before I would be able to sink my teeth into a luscious pile of fatty meat. Undeterred, I bought it and took it home. As much as I love the taste of Corn Beef the smell of it cooking really gacks me out. Somehow I suffered through and was able to make a pile of deliciously greasy and completely unhealthy sandwiches for my fantastically receptive family.

A classic Reuben is a warm sandwich that, for those unfortunate enough never to have tasted the loveliness, consists of these 5 important ingredients:
-Corned Beef
-Sauer Kraut
-Russian or 1000 Island Dressing
-Swiss Cheese
-Rye Bread
The Rye bread should be toasted and the Beef and Cheese stuck under the broiler to get it sufficiently gooey. The dressing should be generous and the Kraut nice a crisp!

After I have said all this I must admit to a small lie...I'm not a huge Reuben fan in its entirety. I don't like Sauer Kraut. I prefer a version, which at Ella's Deli ( a truly sorry excuse for a NY deli by the way) they call a Slush. A Slush is basically the same except Coleslaw is substituted for Sauer Kraut. Try it! Its AMAZING!

And while I'm busy getting sacrilegious, I should also tell you that I am a HUGE fan of Pastrami and would take a Pastrami Slush over a Corned Beef Reuben any day. BUT in a pinch Corned Beef just HITS THE SPOT!!