A Birthday, Better with Butter

Reuben Sandwich

For almost a whole year (My Year of Living Leaner) I totally gave up sandwiches like the Reuben pictured above, and still eat them infrequently, at special occasion lunches out. So when I happened to mention to my anonymous son-in-law S that I could make a good Reuben sandwich he suggested (excitedly) that I could make one for his birthday. And so, last week, I did. I made the traditional corned beef Reuben for myself and my husband, while using some high-end thinly sliced deli turkey for Marissa and her husband. The thing that really raises this sandwich to the level of yummy is that it is fried in butter.

The low-carb lifestyle (which I try to adhere to), thankfully, does not eliminate butter--but the chief use for it is on vegetables and eggs--good, but somewhat limited in appeal. I cannot say enough good things about a high quality, full-fat butter. It's just plain delicious--does anyone disagree?--and especially wonderful, sadly for me, paired with bread.

 I recently saw a quote about butter and checked today if it had a reference. It seems it's from a BBC 1995 film adaptation of a comic novel from 1932 called Cold Comfort Farm. The quotation is from a hell-fire preacher named Amos Starkadder who is actually referencing the use of butter to sooth a burn (no longer recommended). It goes like this:

Well, I'll tell ye there'll be no butter in hell!

Another good reason to avoid hell, but one must ask, "Will there be butter in heaven?"

 Back in the early 90's we had a recording of Larry Gatlin and the Bros. singing "Midnight Choir,"  which became a family road-trip favorite in spite of one "bad" word. In the lyrics, the winos at the mission are asking whether "they have Mogen David in heaven" and then, "if they don't, who the hell wants to go." It's a catchy little number--check it out on YouTube!

Well, I feel a little bit like that about butter. Butter is heavenly stuff! Seriously, I believe that every possible need will be met in heaven and that there will probably be some kind of manna that tastes better than bread and butter and has zero carbs, but I am a little worried about getting stuck for all eternity in some country music mansion with the likes of Gatlin and his gang.

(I actually cut my alcoholic teeth on Mogen David Party Punch wine (really!) mixed with ginger ale, back in the 70's. And the wine of choice for church use back then (when we used real wine in our communion cups) was Mogen David Concord wine. But I have since moved away from the sweet wines of my youth. Next time we see the almost-93-year-old grandparents I'm going to get some of that Concord wine--I'll bet they would still love it.

Back to the birthday.

 Adding chips (or fries) to the Reuben menu is usual, but still very much a treat for us. Both our households have at least one resident that finds them irresistibly addicting and never routinely stock them in their pantries.

The birthday boy and star for the day was served an expensive beer, but no wine or party punch or any other alcohol was consumed with dinner. I (really!) don't drink every day, even though one alcoholic drink a day for a woman is now considered to have health benefits. Back in the day when I drank a small glass of red wine every day (for my health) I developed a funny buzz in my left ear.

 Pickles are also a required side with a Reuben. The fat deli pickles were cut up expertly by my husband.

For my "tablescape" I selected all black (still a favorite) with some added old stars which Marissa had poster-puttied to her bedroom ceiling as a child and were awaiting their fate in a box in my basement. The dinnerware is Dansk "Santiago," the tablecloth, a queen-sized garage sale sheet, tied up at the corners.

Oh My Stars! He passed CFA exam #3. (Results on birthday a.m.)

I still make a Reuben the way I learned from the owner of a little Jewish deli in a Chicago suburb where I lived for a short time when I was first married. The deli was just down the street from Famous Liquors, where I purchased that Mogen David Party Punch wine. The deli had fabulously juicy corned beef, fresh sauerkraut, swiss cheese and rye bread. All I had to add was some thousand island dressing. I don't think the deli man told me this, but I always put cheese on both sides of the sandwich and place the saeurkraut in the middle with the heaps of thinly sliced corned beef. Extra thousand island (slightly warmed?) can be served on the side for dipping--try to find a tasty brand or one can easily make it from scratch. Slather each side of the rye bread with butter and fry it, not too fast, in a non-stick skillet. The sandwich can be flipped carefully more than once, but allow it to achieve a nice crisp buttery brown, frying it long enough to heat through the layers and melt the cheese. Cut in half before serving. Buy quality ingredients and don't burn the bread with heat turned too high--the rest is a piece of cake.

Cake. I wish it weren't true. A birthday celebration may not require butter, but other creamy dairy products are necessary to top off the event--yes, cake and icecream, with whipped (or wipped) topping and nuts. See below:

(In case you have never made a Reuben, this is how I assemble it: generously butter one side of your favorite rye bread--Pepperidge Farm Jewish Seeded Rye is good--and put it face down on a clean surface; lightly coat with thousand island dressing; add a slice or two of Swiss cheese; stack the corned beef on generously; top with well-drained fresh sauerkraut; add one or two more slices of cheese; more thousand island on second slice of bread; place on top and then butter the top side; carefully move it to skillet and fry. In the photo above I failed to get the edges brown--perhaps I was not generous enough with the butter. Also, a good restaurant Reuben usually has the corned beef stacked insanely high.)

 Many variations of the Reuben exist--the Rachel, the Georgia, a Blue, a virgin--but this is the traditional Reuben sandwich that I have always loved--a sandwich fit for a birthday celebration.

Pepperidge Farm German Chocolate Cake, Coldstone Creamery Cookie Dough Icecream Cake,  homemade pecan sauce (butter and cream & vanilla) and Reddi Wip, extra creamy

Another Butter Quote for the Day:

"Eat butter first, and eat it last, and live till a hundred years be past." - Old Dutch Proverb