Pan Grilled Reuben Sammich

So, yeh, this Reuben sammich isa thing of beauty indeed; and, the taste?

Awesome!

Here’s the thing, though…

I made the mustard glazed corned beef, and then enjoyed a moderately sized sammich for dinner for two nights in a row.

And spent most of last night gulping down glass after glass of ice water.

Take note of the ingredients I used to make the corned beef, and then note what I used to make the sammiches. No salt was added, but the process to make corned beef is, basically, to salt it; so, I would suggest mebbe having a bunch of folk over to share all this sodium laced goodness, or, portion and freeze the corned beef and have it as an oh! so tasty! treat, once in a while. I know the rest of mine is going into the freezer and I am having curried tuna salad tonight.

Another kinda cunning option, I think, might could be to just use the mustard glaze on a beef brisket, which would remove a lot of salt, though there will still be a fair amount of fat.

INGREDIENTS
Mustard Glazed Corned Beef, sliced
•Sliced Pepper Jack Cheese*
•Sauerkraut
•Thousand Island Dressing – I used Marie’s, but here is a most excellent home made version
•Unsalted butter, at room temperature
•Light or dark rye bread

*Yes, I know that Swiss cheese is the norm for a Reuben, but I like the zip of adding Pepper Jack.

Warm a skillet over medium low heat, then add the sauerkraut and cook, stirring often, until most of the liquid has cooked off and the sauerkraut is a bit browned in spots.

Transfer to a bowl and keep warm.

If you’ve made your corned beef  ahead of time, go ahead and add the sliced beef to the skillet and cook to reheat, mebbe adding a bit of a crispity spot here and there as an added bonus.

Transfer to a bowl and keep warm.

You can wipe out the pan you’ve been using, but I like few charred bits of sauerkraut that will stick to the sammich while you grill it.

To make each sammich:

Spread the Thousand Island Dressing on one side of a slice of bread, then top that with the corned beef, sauerkraut, and a slice or two of the cheese to cover.

Spread another slice of bread with the Thousand Island Dressing and place that, dressing side down, on top of the sammich.

Spread some of the unsalted butter over the top of the sammich, then place that, buttered side down, in the pan over medium heat.

Cook for five minutes or so, checking after four minutes, until the bottom is nicely browned.

Apply butter to the top of the sammich, then flip it so that the newly buttered top is directly on the pan.

Cook for another four or five minutes, until this second side is nicely browned and the cheese all ooey gooey melty.

Remove from the pan and let rest for a couple of minutes before slicing – this will give the cheese some time to “set up” a bit and hold your sammich together better while you enjoy the glory that is a Reuben.

As an option: you could also sprinkle each buttered side of the bread with some Parmesan before grilling. This is a trick I learned from one of our fave local places, and their Reuben is not to be believed.

 

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