Corned Beef and Turkey Reuben Sandwiches

    Reubens are simply delicious. The combination of sweet/tangy dressing, salty corned beef, sauerkraut and rye bread is just divine. The Reuben isn't a terribly complicated sandwich, but making a proper reuben requires a little work. Nothing too strenuous, just round up the ingredients listed below and you've got yourself the king of the deli sandwiches... We recently made some pretty killer Reubens and I thought it'd be worthwhile to post the recipe and a few pictures. After all, it's almost Saint Patrick's Day and what's more Irish than corned beef? Well, potatoes and a Guiness I guess... but on short notice I'll settle for a Reuben and a cream ale.

Ingredients

    The be part of the Reuben, in my opinion, is that it doesn't take long to make. You're looking at maybe 5 minutes of prep time before you're biting into the sandwich. If you're in a hurry you can skip the whole toasting step, but you'd really be missing out. So here's what you'll need:

• Soft Rye Bread
• Deli Sliced Turkey Breast
• Corned Beef
• Sauerkraut
• Thousand Island Dressing
• Swiss Cheese
• Butter

    Building the Reuben is pretty simple, you can't really screw it up so long as everything except for the butter is between the two pieces of rye bread. Start off by spreading your Thousand Island dressing over the two pieces of bread, just like you would with mayo on any other sandwich. You don't need to lay it on thick, the dressing is plenty strong so a light slathering should do just fine. Now you can start piling on the meat, for this sandwich I went with half corned beef and half turkey. I really like the taste of turkey meat from the deli, but if you're a purist then load up on corned beef. I also like to keep my sandwiches a little thin, so I had about two or three pieces of turkey and corned beef. I like to be able to get my mouth around the sandwich when all is said and done. When you have enough corned beef and turkey you can pile on the sauerkraut. For these sandwiches we let the sauerkraut simmer for a good thirty minutes or so before putting the sandwiches together, so it was warm and juicy. After the sauerkraut you should a slice or two of Swiss cheese on top and then apply the other piece of rye to the top.



    We're almost done, now you just need to toast the bread. You could do this ahead of time but I think it's better to put the Reuben together and throw it in a pan so you'll melt the cheese a little more and warm up the meat. This is where the butter comes in, apply a little bit of butter to the outside top and bottom of the sandwich and throw it on the skillet until the rye starts to toast a little. Flip the sandwich when the rye turns golden and give it another minute or two to warm up the other side. I like using soft rye because it won't be too crunchy or hard after toasting like a dark rye. Also, it's lighter in color so you can see it toast a lot easier. So once you've toasted both sides of the Reuben you're all done. Just throw the Reuben on a plate and cut it in half and you're all set. I enjoy my Reubens with a ramekin of ketchup and a cream ale. Steak fries or onion rings are always a bonus. Tonight though, it was more cole slaw and a couple little boiled potatoes.

    The Reubens turned out excellent. They were perfectly toasted, tangy and delicious. Total cost for everything ran about $18 (that included the cost of the potatoes and ingredients for a huge bowl of cole slaw). We were able to get almost ten Reubens out of a pound of corned beef, a pound of turkey, one loaf of soft rye and a bag of sauerkraft. Not too bad for such an awesome sandwich.