The Reuben sandwich is a

North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the ...

grilled

sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

composed of

corned beef Corned beef, or salt beef in some of the Commonwealth of Nations, is salt-cured brisket of beef. The term comes from the treatment of the meat with large-grained rock salt, also called "corns" of salt. Sometimes, sugar and spices are added ...

, Swiss cheese,

sauerkraut Sauerkraut (; , "sour cabbage") is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ...

, and

Thousand Island dressing Thousand Island dressing is an American salad dressing and condiment based on mayonnaise that can include olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, vinegar, cream, chili sauce, tomato purée, and ketchup or ...

or Russian dressing, grilled between slices of

rye bread Rye bread is a type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat ...

. It is associated with kosher-style

delicatessens Traditionally, a delicatessen or deli is a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessen originated in Germany (original: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the m ...

, but is not

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

because it combines meat and cheese.

Possible origins

One origin story holds that Reuben Kulakofsky (his first name sometimes spelled Reubin; his last name sometimes shortened to Kay), a Lithuanian-born Jewish grocer residing in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest ...

, asked for a sandwich made of

and

at his weekly poker game held in the Blackstone Hotel from around 1920 through 1935. The participants, who nicknamed themselves "the committee", included the hotel's owner, Charles Schimmel. Schimmel's son, who worked in the kitchen, made the first Reuben for him, adding Swiss cheese and

thousand island dressing Thousand Island dressing is an American salad dressing and condiment based on mayonnaise that can include olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, vinegar, cream, chili sauce, tomato purée, and ketchup or ...

to his order, putting the whole thing on

. The sandwich first gained local fame when Schimmel put it on the Blackstone's lunch menu, and its fame spread when a former employee of the hotel won the national sandwich idea contest with the recipe. In

, March 14 was proclaimed Reuben Sandwich Day. Another account holds that the Reuben's creator was Arnold Reuben, the German-Jewish owner of Reuben's Delicatessen (1908–2001) in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. According to an interview with

Craig Claiborne Craig Claiborne (September 4, 1920 January 22, 2000) was an American restaurant critic, food journalist and book author. A long-time food editor and restaurant critic for ''The New York Times'', he was also the author of numerous cookbooks and ...

, Arnold Reuben created the "Reuben Special" around 1914. Bernard Sobel in his 1953 book, ''Broadway Heartbeat: Memoirs of a Press Agent'' states that the sandwich was an extemporaneous creation for Marjorie Rambeau, inaugurated when the Broadway actress visited the Reuben's Delicatessen one night when the cupboards were particularly bare. Still other versions give credit to Alfred Scheuing, a chef at Reuben's Delicatessen, and say he created the sandwich for Reuben's son, Arnold Jr., in the 1930s.

Variations

Montreal Reuben

The

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Reuben substitutes

Montreal-style smoked meat Montreal-style smoked meat, Montreal smoked meat or simply smoked meat in Quebec (French: ''smoked-meat''; sometimes ''viande fumée'' or even ''bœuf mariné'': Literally “marinated beef”) is a type of kosher-style deli meat product made ...

for the corned beef.

Thousand Island dressing

is commonly used as a substitute for Russian dressing.

Walleye Reuben

The

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relat ...

Reuben features the freshwater fish (''Sander vitreus'') in place of the corned beef.

Grouper Reuben

The grouper Reuben is a variation on the standard Reuben sandwich, substituting

grouper Groupers are fish of any of a number of genera in the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family Serranidae, in the order Perciformes. Not all serranids are called "groupers"; the family also includes the sea basses. The common name "grouper" ...

for the corned beef, and sometimes

coleslaw Coleslaw (from the Dutch term ''koolsla'' meaning 'cabbage salad'), also known as cole slaw, or simply as slaw, is a side dish consisting primarily of finely shredded raw cabbage with a salad dressing or condiment, commonly either vinaigrett ...

for the sauerkraut as well. This variation is often a menu item in restaurants in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

Reuben egg rolls

Reuben egg rolls, sometimes called "Irish egg rolls" or "Reuben balls", use the standard Reuben sandwich filling of corned beef, sauerkraut, and cheese inside a deep-fried

egg roll Egg rolls are a variety of deep-fried appetizers served in American Chinese restaurants. An egg roll is a cylindrical, savory roll with shredded cabbage, chopped meat, or other fillings inside a thickly-wrapped wheat flour skin, which is frie ...

wrapper. Typically served with

(instead of Russian dressing) as an appetizer or snack, they originated at Mader's, a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

restaurant in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

, where chef Dennis Wegner created them for a summer festival circa 1990.

Rachel sandwich

The Rachel sandwich is a variation which substitutes pastrami or

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

for the corned beef, and

for the sauerkraut. In some parts of the United States, especially Michigan, this turkey variant is known as a "Georgia Reuben" or "California Reuben", and it may also call for

barbecue sauce Barbecue sauce (also abbreviated as BBQ sauce) is a sauce used as a marinade, basting, condiment, or topping for meat cooked in the barbecue cooking style, including pork or beef ribs and chicken. It is a ubiquitous condiment in the Southern ...

or French dressing instead of Russian dressing. The name may have originated from the 1871 song "

Reuben and Rachel Reuben and Rachel is a popular song with words written by Harry Birch and music by William Gooch, originally published in Boston in 1871 by White, Smith, & Perry. The song regained popularity in the 20th century as a children's song. The first li ...

Dinty Moore sandwich

The Dinty Moore sandwich is a

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

variation which substitutes coleslaw or shredded lettuce and tomato"The Bread Basket"
at the Food Network website. Retrieved 1 May 2022. ''"a triple-decker sandwich piled high with corned beef, slathered with a creamy Russian dressing and topped with crisp shredded lettuce and ripe tomato."'' for the sauerkraut. It is sometimes on toasted white (wheat) bread instead of toasted rye and sometimes omits the Swiss cheese. It is often a triple-decker sandwich.

Vegetarian and vegan versions

Vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

versions, called "veggie Reubens", omit the corned beef or substitute vegetarian ingredients for it, including zucchini, cucumbers, wheatmeat, and mushrooms. Vegan versions can use the aforementioned wheatmeat also known as seitan,

tempeh Tempeh or tempe (; jv, ꦠꦺꦩ꧀ꦥꦺ, témpé, ) is a traditional Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. A fungus, '' Rhizo ...

or mushrooms with non-dairy cheese, dressing and butter.

Kosher status

As a Reuben combines both meat and dairy ingredients in the same meal, it cannot be

. However, it is frequently served at

kosher style Kosher style refers to foods commonly associated with Jewish cuisine but which may or may not actually be kosher. It is a stylistic designation rather than one based on the laws of kashrut. Generally, kosher-style food does not include meat from f ...

restaurants. Kosher versions may be made using non-dairy imitation cheese, or substitute vegetarian corned beef, or omitting the meat or the cheese."Kosher Reuben Sandwiches" in Faye Levy, ''1,000 Jewish Recipes'', 2011, , p. 347