Reuben Sandwich

It’s easy to turn any regular sandwich recipe into a great panini recipe.  For example, let’s look at the Reuben Sandwich.

A Reuben Sandwich starts with either rye or pumpernickel bread.  Choose one of those or do what I do and pick a nice sourdough rye bread and slice it thick.  If you want a hardy panini, then slice it at least a half inch thick.  If you just got rescued from a deserted island and haven’t had a great meal in months, then go for 3/4 inch slices.

Next comes the meat.  A Reuben is made with corned beef.  You should really find yourself a great deli in your neighborhood for all of your panini making needs.  This is especially true if you want good corned beef.  If you’re one of those people that knows how to cook a great corned beef, well then your one step ahead of everyone else.  Pile that meat on pretty high.

Image by shannonpatrick17 via Flickr

Sauerkraut takes the place of any greens on this panini.  As with all the rest of the ingredients, pile it on high.  If you’re only had Sauerkraut on a hot dog before, then you’re in for a treat. Sauerkraut goes great on grilled sandwiches.

Add a generous amount of swiss cheese.  When the cheese melts it’ll help hold everything together.  And that’s also one of the reasons why a Reuben makes a good panini.  The grilling and pressing helps hold your sandwich together.  No one likes when everything falls over the place when you pick it up.  What fun it that?

And the last ingredient is a spread.  Now you’ve got two choices here.  You can either go with Russian Dressing or Thousand Island Dressing.  Both of them work perfectly with the other ingredients but you’ll probably have to try each one of them before you figure out which one you like better.

Carefully place this sandwich into your panini grill and cook for at least two or three minutes.  The outside of the bread should have a nice toasty crunch to it when it’s done.

Slice diagonally and serve with a pickle and some cole slaw.  The Reuben Sandwich makes a great panini.