Rueben!

I love corned beef. Alot! I was recently given some sauerkraut that was homemade. It sat in my fridge for a while even though I knew exactly what I was going to do with it. I was asked fairly frequently by my friend that had given it to me what I thought of it.. I told him that it had to go on a Rueben.. and not just any Rueben It has to be the right corned beef. Corned beef needs to have a fair deal of fat content for it to reallybe a high quality rueben. I love the creamy texture of the fat on corned beef. I finally said enough is enough and headed to a local butcher shop to get myself a piece of brisket and cured my own. It is really quite simple, just a bit time consuming for those that may have issues with impatience. I got the recipe for the corned beef from Julia Childs Book The Way to Cook which is a fantastic book

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So after a period of two weeks it was time to cook the corned beef and prepare for an evening of food fun and friends..I figured it was pretty important that the rueben had all the right ingredients.. if you are going to through all the trouble of making your own corned beef it is best to also bake some bread and get some high quality cheese for the ruebens right? SO I spent the day baking bread and shopping around for the right ingredients for the sandwiches. I was looking for a good Swiss and found that perhaps the best cheese for the job was a cave aged Gruyere. Perhaps one of my favorite cheeses for eating with a good Belgian beer(which for the time being I have given up)Bread has baked,Thousand Island dressing is made,everything is in place.. Guests arrive. One essential side dish for a good rueben are potatoes fried in duck fat.. which we had no shortage of, along side of that a big old ham was brought as well just for picking at while we waited for the rest of the meal to be ready.

I happen to think that the best ruebens are grilled in butter, it gives the bread that crispiness that off sets all the other textures. The ruebens were a great success only I never did take a picture of the finished product, but there will be a next time.