Finally! The Lunch Thread!

This place has been around since the early 50's...how can you not love a deep fried hot dog?

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I had a bag of sun chips and a Reeses peanut butter cup for lunch.

All in all not bad but not super filling .
 
We can always count on AI to lift our spirits in a pinch: Deep-fried hot dogs can be a fun and delicious treat, but they are generally not considered a healthy option.

Story of my life :(
 
Best reuben.

Open can of Libby's sour kraut. Squeeze out most of the juice, but not all of it. Place in bowl, cover loosely. Heat with microwave.

Butter two slices of Beef Steak Hearty Rye bread. Use salted butter.

Lay one in pan butter side down. I like my commercial cast aluminum pan. It heats super evenly.

Add swiss cheese to cover bread,

Add one layer of thinly sliced corned beef.

Add layer of heated Sour kraut.

Add another layer of thinly sliced corned beef.

Add final layer of swiss cheese.

Add second slice of buttered bread, butter side up.

Sandwich in the pan should not be thick. It should be relatively thin.

Heat pan, medium low, with sandwich in it. Surface temp of pan should come up to be around 300 F.

Tent with large square of foil so that heat rising up around pan is redirected towards sandwich.

Wait.

After a few mins, place chef press on top of sandwich.

Tent with foil.

Wait. Be patient.

After a while, place ear next to pan. When it's starts to sizzle, it's probably time to flip.

Slide small sharp spatula underneath carefully. Loosen sandwich. Check for toasted-ness. Flip when perfect. Toasted side should be edge to edge perfection

Heat second side. Add chef press. Ten with foil optional.

Second side will toast much quicker.

The trick is to heat slowly enough so that sandwich is piping hot but also has perfected toasted sides.

Remove sandwich. Slice in half on a board. I like to use a bread knife and saw back and forth to get through the toasted side, then finish with a chef's knife through the soft under-layers.

Serving with pickle is classic.

Sandwich should be relatively thin, piping hot, crisp toasted bread, melted gooey cheese.

Best reuben ever!

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Sorry mate...not for me.

Make your own Corned Beef and cut by hand
Saurkraut should always fresh (bag is ok, NOT canned!) and be rinsed
The sandwich is way TOO THIN!

Go to Soho and learn! KATZs is the KING!!!







Pastrami Reuben


General


 
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Skinsfan1311 said:
This place has been around since the early 50's...how can you not love a deep fried hot dog?

View attachment 11170
Click to expand...
Btw, if you want a fried hot dog but don’t want to take 17 years off your life, my daughter’s science teacher has an air fryer in his classroom and air fries a hotdog for lunch. He swears it’s the best way to prepare a hot dog.

We took his advice and tried it. Not bad. Not bad at all.

You just end up taking 13 years off your life and not 17, so it’s an improvement.
 
Voice_of_Reason said:
Btw, if you want a fried hot dog but don’t want to take 17 years off your life, my daughter’s science teacher has an air fryer in his classroom and air fries a hotdog for lunch. He swears it’s the best way to prepare a hot dog.

We took his advice and tried it. Not bad. Not bad at all.

You just end up taking 13 years off your life and not 17, so it’s an improvement.
Click to expand...
We air fry hot dogs and love 'em!
 
RedWolf said:
...

Saurkraut should always fresh (bag is ok, NOT canned!) and be rinsed
The sandwich is way TOO THIN!

Go to Soho and learn! KATZs is the KING!!!







Pastrami Reuben


General


Click to expand...


Yeah... no.

I make 'em the way my mom made them. Been doing it for fifty years. They are outstanding. King of our tailgate! People would beg for them. I made them at the pre-tailgate too! The cop wanted the whole plate!

Yes, I am happy to cook the corned beef all day. Nothing wrong with that. But it's not convenient if you want a reuben NOW. Although it's more difficult to slice thin. So I just use one layer when I do it like that.

If using deli corned beef, it is important that it's high quality corned beef. I used Harris Teeter Boar's Head for this deal.

I've done the fresh sourkraut thing. I didn't see a big difference.

No, I'm not rinsing my sourkraut. I WANT the juice in there! The sour juice adds to the flavor! But just a little bit of juice.

Thin is definitely King. I've made literally hundreds of these. At the tailgate, I would make six at a time on a big griddle. I'd have to cut them into quarters because I'm feeding so many people. Everybody loves them. Thin is always better. Always always always. 100% of the time. It's not even close. Thick is great for a pastrami sandwich or a corned beef sandwich, etc.. But a grilled reuben is best when it's thin. Every once in a while, I make an error and make one too thick, and it is always a mistake. It is never as good. Thin for the win.

It's not easy to make it thin. One's instinct is to add more corned beef. Corned beef is delicious, so you want to add more, right? DON'T DO IT. One must fight through that instinct. The trick is to assure that everything is proportioned correctly.

The end result is the perfect balance of flavors, textures, salt, acidity, fat, and wonderfulness. It's to die for.

I would put my sandwich up against anybody's. And I would go home with the blue ribbon. :cool:
 
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Thanks for the detailed recipe Mark - sounds amazing. I have had thinner Reubens and I've had ones piled so high you couldn't get your mouth around the whole sandwich. I'll say this. I've never had a 'bad' Reuben. Only good ones and really good ones.

I have no doubt yours is great. Part of that is probably just how tasty it is, and part of it no doubt is because it is so familiar and you have nostalgia for the way it's made. That's the best kind of cooking there is.

I think when you pile a Reuben very thick and high there's a tendency to taste mostly the corned beef (or pastrami) and not as much the other ingredients. So I can see the argument for not piling it on. I will definitely try this one.
 
Mark The Homer said:
Yeah... no.

I make 'em the way my mom made them. Been doing it for fifty years. They are outstanding. King of our tailgate! People would beg for them. I made them at the pre-tailgate too! The cop wanted the whole plate!

Yes, I am happy to cook the corned beef all day. Nothing wrong with that. But it's not convenient if you want a reuben NOW. Although it's more difficult to slice thin. So I just use one layer when I do it like that.

If using deli corned beef, it is important that it's high quality corned beef. I used Harris Teeter Boar's Head for this deal.

I've done the fresh sourkraut thing. I didn't see a big difference.

No, I'm not rinsing my sourkraut. I WANT the juice in there. The sour juice adds to the flavor. But just a little bit of juice.

Thin is definitely King. I've made literally hundreds of these. Thin is always better. Always always always. 100% of the time. It's not even close. Thick is great for a pastrami sandwich or a corned beef sandwich. But a grilled reuben is best when it's thin. Every once in a while I make an error and make one too thick, and it is always a mistake. It is never as good. Thin for the win.

It's not easy to make it thin. One's instinct is to add more corned beef. It's delicious, so you want to add more. DON'T DO IT. One must fight through that instinct. The trick is to assure that everything is proportioned correctly.

The end result is the perfect balance of flavors, textures, salt, acidity, fat, and wonderfulness. It's to die for.

I would put my sandwich up against anybody's. And I would go home with the blue ribbon. :cool:
Click to expand...
Definitely thin. Same idea, for me anyway, with BLT's. It sounds like sacrilege, but too much bacon ruins a good BLT. Same thing with grilled cheese.
Edit: I have eaten one of your Ruebens. Best I've ever had....
 
Skinsfan1311 said:
Definitely thin. Same idea, for me anyway, with BLT's. It sounds like sacrilege, but too much bacon ruins a good BLT. Same thing with grilled cheese.
Edit: I have eaten one of your Ruebens. Best I've ever had....
Click to expand...

"too much bacon ruins a good BLT"

Absolutely right. It amazes me how few people understand this idea. A few years ago, I had a couple over for lunch in August and I had fresh garden tomatoes that were outstanding - you know, with that amplified garden tomato flavor. I went out of my way to get the best tomatoes, and then I commented on how fresh they were and how great the flavor was, and how this was the perfect time of the year for a BLT due to the tomatoes. And so everybody made their own sandwich. And you know what they did? They PILED the bacon on! It was just stupid. It was like watching a bad horror movie. I had to bite my tongue not to say anything.

During tomato season, the tomato is king. Bacon is the jester.

Do we want to demote the King and put the jester in charge? No we do not.
 
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Mark The Homer said:
"too much bacon ruins a good BLT"

Absolutely right. It amazes me how few people understand this idea. A few years ago, I had a couple over for lunch in August and I had fresh garden tomatoes that were outstanding - you know, with that amplified garden tomato flavor. I went out of my way to get the best tomatoes, and then I commented on how fresh they were and how great the flavor was, and how this was the perfect time of the year for a BLT due to the tomatoes. And so everybody made their own sandwich. And you know what they did? They PILED the bacon on! It was just stupid. It was like watching a bad horror movie. I had to bite my tongue not to say anything.

During tomato season, the tomato is king. Bacon is the jester.
Click to expand...
My favorite sandwich during tomato season is a ripe, thick slice of tomato on white bread with Duke's Mayo, (or Miracle Whip), with lots of ground black pepper. I eat them a couple times a week and never get tired of them...
 
Yes, me too! It's apparently a southern thing. Maybe I should retire to Lee County...

I mentioned the tomato sandwich to the bacon-piler guy above who was raised on the Florida panhandle and currently lives in Alabama - voluntarily - and he's never heard of it. WTF
 
Voice_of_Reason said:
Btw, if you want a fried hot dog but don’t want to take 17 years off your life, my daughter’s science teacher has an air fryer in his classroom and air fries a hotdog for lunch. He swears it’s the best way to prepare a hot dog.

We took his advice and tried it. Not bad. Not bad at all.

You just end up taking 13 years off your life and not 17, so it’s an improvement.
Click to expand...
I saw a guy do that at a golf course as his friends laughed at him. I tried one at work last summer and it was way better, crisp on the outside like a campfire dog. But once was enough.
 
Mark The Homer said:
"too much bacon ruins a good BLT"
Click to expand...
Any tomato ruins a BLT. :p

I love tomatoes except on any sandwich or burger of any kind. I find them hard to eat and makes the bread soggy.

I tried different ways of stacking tomatoes in sandwiches so they don’t make the bread soggy. But then I find as you bite through it, they fall apart and slide around and make a mess.

I’m sure there’s a way, and there are techniques for chewing. Though I’ve solved my problem by eating my tomatoes other ways and not on sandwiches.
 
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