1000 Island or Russian?
March 20, 2019 12:38 PM Subscribe
Is the uber-Rueben made with 1000 Island or Russian? Is it regional?
(Do you mean the ur-Reuben, or is there a super Reuben you're referring to?)
That said, Wikipedia, which cites this page which quotes from the originally published recipe, and this Washington Post article are all pretty clear that it was Russian Dressing first and originally, though often made now with 1000 Island.
posted by brainmouse at 12:44 PM on March 20, 2019 [6 favorites]
That said, Wikipedia, which cites this page which quotes from the originally published recipe, and this Washington Post article are all pretty clear that it was Russian Dressing first and originally, though often made now with 1000 Island.
posted by brainmouse at 12:44 PM on March 20, 2019 [6 favorites]
Good Washington Post article on the history of both dressings, and how Thousand Island has largely eclipsed Russian. On a reuben, Russian is traditional, but has largely been supplanted by the more popular Thousand Island.
posted by General Malaise at 12:48 PM on March 20, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by General Malaise at 12:48 PM on March 20, 2019 [6 favorites]
When I worked at Zingerman's Deli, the canonical reuben was emphatically served with russian dressing.
posted by gauche at 12:51 PM on March 20, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by gauche at 12:51 PM on March 20, 2019 [6 favorites]
It's definitely Russian dressing, which of course is not actually Russian in origin but is most likely from New Hampshire.
posted by aspersioncast at 2:06 PM on March 20, 2019
posted by aspersioncast at 2:06 PM on March 20, 2019
I grew up in Omaha, so many thanks to General Malaise for the Rolandweb/Miriam Webster article. I know it as part of local lore, but it’s fascinating to read about people who feel strongly about this. The foods Nebraskans can truly claim: Kool-Aid, Dorothy Lynch salad dressing, Runzas*, and Butter Brickle ice cream. Oh wait, that last one is also up for debate.
*Runzas are clearly their own thing. No one in Nebraska is claiming to have invented the Bierock, meat pie, pasty, or the idea of bread-wrapped meat.
posted by djwikiben at 4:08 PM on March 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
*Runzas are clearly their own thing. No one in Nebraska is claiming to have invented the Bierock, meat pie, pasty, or the idea of bread-wrapped meat.
posted by djwikiben at 4:08 PM on March 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
What? Russian.
posted by inexorably_forward at 4:20 PM on March 20, 2019
posted by inexorably_forward at 4:20 PM on March 20, 2019
The foods Nebraskans can truly claim: Kool-Aid, Dorothy Lynch salad dressing, Runzas*, and Butter Brickle ice cream.
Growing up, the mother of the family next door made great hamburgers and her special sauce was Dorothy Lynch salad dressing! I didn't know it was from Nebraska.
posted by shoesietart at 5:37 PM on March 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
Growing up, the mother of the family next door made great hamburgers and her special sauce was Dorothy Lynch salad dressing! I didn't know it was from Nebraska.
posted by shoesietart at 5:37 PM on March 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
I've worked in a ton of restaurants and it more or less seemed interchangeable. In theory there are legitimate, but trivial differences between the two mayo-ketchups, but in practice they are often the same sauce or called by the others name anyway, especially if it's made in-house, even more likely to vary from whatever the cooking textbook definitions are. The Ur-Reuben "should" have Russian, but tbh it's better without mayo or ketchup combos of any kind, like all meat sandwiches, good ol' mustard is better even though sacrilegious.
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:45 AM on March 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:45 AM on March 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
Who gets to decree what the "ur-Reuben" is?
Since the sandwich has no clear inventor, we can't look to authorial intent. So we're left with descriptivism: we can only observe what kind of dressing people put on sandwiches that they call "Reubens".
And, as you've noted, people use both. And I'm sure that you could find people in both camps who would argue that their version is the true, authentic one.
The above-linked Wikipedia article lists several variations. Some of them are regional – but none of the regional variants are defined by their dressing, except for the Georgia Reuben / California Reuben.
Unless someone has actual research data to support a claim, here's my guess: you're going to find Reubens with both Russian and Thousand Island in most parts of the US.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 12:49 PM on March 21, 2019
Since the sandwich has no clear inventor, we can't look to authorial intent. So we're left with descriptivism: we can only observe what kind of dressing people put on sandwiches that they call "Reubens".
And, as you've noted, people use both. And I'm sure that you could find people in both camps who would argue that their version is the true, authentic one.
The above-linked Wikipedia article lists several variations. Some of them are regional – but none of the regional variants are defined by their dressing, except for the Georgia Reuben / California Reuben.
Unless someone has actual research data to support a claim, here's my guess: you're going to find Reubens with both Russian and Thousand Island in most parts of the US.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 12:49 PM on March 21, 2019
For what it's worth, though: this Washington Post article claims that Russian "was once the go-to condiment in a Reuben sandwich".
posted by escape from the potato planet at 12:53 PM on March 21, 2019
posted by escape from the potato planet at 12:53 PM on March 21, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by griphus at 12:43 PM on March 20, 2019 [6 favorites]