The deli classic that breaks kosher law, and three cities that claim it
The Reuben is a fixture of Jewish-style delis, yet its corned beef and Swiss cheese together make it impossible to call kosher. Nobody agrees who invented it either: an Omaha poker game, a Broadway deli owner and a deli chef all have their champions.
The standard build is corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian or Thousand Island dressing on rye, grilled until the bread crisps and the cheese runs. It belongs to the world of kosher-style delicatessens in cities such as New York, but mixing meat with dairy breaks traditional Jewish dietary rules. Truly kosher versions drop the cheese, swap in a non-dairy imitation, or use a supervised meat substitute.
The Nebraska story centres on Reuben Kulakofsky, a grocer born in Lithuania, and a weekly card game at Omaha's Blackstone Hotel that ran from around 1920 to 1935. The players called themselves the committee. When Kulakofsky asked for corned beef and sauerkraut, the son of hotel owner Charles Schimmel added cheese and dressing and served it on rye. It went onto the hotel's lunch menu, and a former staff member later won a national sandwich contest with the recipe. Omaha now marks March 14 as Reuben Sandwich Day.
New York's rival claim belongs to Arnold Reuben, whose delicatessen operated from 1908 to 2001. He told the food writer Craig Claiborne he devised a Reuben Special around 1914, and a 1953 memoir by press agent Bernard Sobel says it was improvised for the actress Marjorie Rambeau on a night when the kitchen was nearly empty. A third version gives the credit to Alfred Scheuing, a chef at the same deli, who supposedly made it for Reuben's son in the 1930s.
The formula has spawned many relatives. Montreal uses smoked meat, Florida restaurants serve a grouper version, and walleye stands in on some menus. The Rachel trades in pastrami or turkey with coleslaw, possibly named after an 1871 song. A Milwaukee chef, Dennis Wegner, stuffed the filling into deep-fried egg rolls around 1990, and vegans build theirs on seitan or tempeh.
Source: Reuben sandwich
