short rib pastrami on toasted rye with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, pickles and a Russian style sauce

An iconic sandwich, the traditional Reuben features the rich, spicy, salty, smoked taste of pastrami along with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and a Russian style sauce on toasted rye. At first glance it sounds like an odd mix of sandwich fillers but it’s amazing how well they marry together. As always the best meat is home cooked and you can find our beef short rib pastrami recipe here. For something different try our lamb pastrami.

Brisket is the most popular cut for pastrami but I love the extra richness of short ribs especially in a sandwich when there is a host of flavours going on. There’s room to experiment to with different cheeses, adding pickles, changing up the spicy sauce and other breads.

ingredients

• beef short rib pastrami
• rye bread
• sauerkraut
• Swiss cheese
• pickles
• Russian style sauce, a mix of…
  • 1/3 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tbsp sour cream
  • 1.5 tbsp chilli sauce
  • 1 tsp grated brown onion
  • 1 tsp horseradish
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions

No secrets here… if you’re slicing up the pastrami hot simply toast the rye with the Swiss cheese then add the pastrami and other fillers on top as shown in the picture. If cold, toast the bread with the cheese and pastrami on top of the cheese. Once toasted then add the sauerkraut, pickles and sauce. For our Reuben sushi recipe click here.

The amount of sauce in this recipe will be enough for at least a few sandwiches. Sauce quantities are a personal preference. For me the meat is the key ingredient to any sandwich or burger and everything else is complimentary so I go conservative on the sauce.

Enjoy your Reuben sandwich!

You can find our lamb pastrami sandwich here.