Reuben dip on deli bread

Cooking with friends, 310pp.
by customers of Herberger’s Department Store
no publisher or date given
Cooking on page 32

This cookbook belongs to my friend, Jim Rundstrom. Many years ago, Jim was my journalism teacher at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Almost a decade later he was my boss when I lectured in journalism at the same institution. Our connection and friendship go back more than 35 years.

I catch up with Jim whenever I’m back in Nebraska and, not surprisingly, I ransack his bookshelves when I’m there. His grandsons even did a page-32 recipe.

This gem is from Herberger’s Department Store. I used to think Herberger’s was only in Kearney, but it turns out they have stores across the country—from Idaho and Montana in the west to most of New England in the east.

This is Herberger’s third cookbook. The first two featured recipes by staff and this one features recipes from customers.

Page 32 is a reuben recipe. I adore the flavours of reubens. But I have to say that the heritage of the basic reuben sandwich has two stories. Some say it was invented in New York, but I prefer to believe the legend that it was invented at the Blackstone Hotel in Omaha Nebraska.

So what do you think about the recipe and/or its heritage?

Reuben dip on deli bread

Ingredients
16 oz. sauerkraut, drained
1/4 cup sour cream
3 oz. cream cheese
8 oz. shredded Swiss cheese
2 pkgs corned beef
rye deli bread

Method
Cut corned beef into pieces. Put into crockpot with other ingredients. This is ready when cheeses are hot and melted. Spread on bread slices.

How it played out
I made half a batch of this recipe. I decided not to get out the crockpot and instead heated all the ingredients in a saucepan. That worked just fine.

I wasn’t sure how much a package of corned beef weighed. For a half batch, I used just under 200 grams (6–7 ounces) of corned beef.

Served on my homemade sourdough rye bread.  Let me know if you want the recipe.

Verdict
A delicious recipe. Not quite as good as the best reuben sandwich I’ve ever had in a restaurant just west of Denver Colorado, but still great.

In future, I’d cut back just a tad on the cream cheese because the final result was very, very rich.

Travel
Sauerkraut is popular in Germany and here’s a post where we enjoyed plenty of German markets and food and here’s another page-32 recipe for a great sauerkraut dish..