Let's Do Lunch: Reuben Sandwich with a Side of Carrot Salad

Kyle Mullin | Nov 17, 2014 11:00 am | Add a comment | 3321 reads | Sponsored by TooToo Organic Farm

Sponsored by TooToo Organic Farm (沱沱工社) – find all of the organic, natural, and healthy ingredients you’ll need for this recipe and more by visiting their English online shopping website: shop.tootoo.cn – it’s easy to make orders and get your products via TooToo’s own Cold-Chain logistics system to your door. Ask your favorite restaurant where they source their food supplies – TooToo Organic Farm can be your reliable resource! 

Every Friday, after dismissal from his Hebrew school, young Andy Horowitz would commute from his New Jersey neighborhood to spend the weekend at his Grandmother’s place in The Big Apple. The two locales may have been in close proximity, but between them both he was exposed to cuisines from a vast array of cultures.   

“My parents’ house was kosher, but we’d still have pepperoni on pizza. All my friends were Italian or African-American, so I’d be over at their houses trying different dishes. And then, in the city on the weekend, there’d be all this street food I could try. So for me, as an East Coast Jew, bagels, pizza and Chinese food seemed almost as culturally Jewish as anything else, ” Horowitz says of his background, and the formative influences outside of that tradition, that eventually lead him to open his own business, Andy’s Craft Sausages, in Beijing. 

“I couldn’t find good Italian sausages in Beijing, so a friend and I decided to make our own,” Horowitz says of his business’ origin in 2012, adding that his friend bought a grinder, and their hobby quickly began taking up all their time. “We’d make sausages for barbecues, and people would ask me where they could buy them. So I started selling them, and I’ve been paying my rent that way ever since.” 

Now customers call on Andy’s Craft Sausages to cater their parties, and several bars and restaurants source from Horowitz’s fledgling business. Some of those clients prefer to use his sausages in sandwiches, which brings us today’s dish: a Reuben sandwich with a side of carrot salad. 

Horowitz says the first step in preparing this dish may be more important than any other: “Poaching is the only way to go. People will boil their sausages, then wonder why they’re too dry. Poaching them will make them nice and juicy.”

He adds that the sandwich’s sauerkraut can be mixed with bacon to heighten its flavor. “This might not be the healthiest dish in the Tootoo lunch series,” he says with a wry smile, before adding: “But it’ll definitely be one of the tastiest. Besides, all the ingredients are fresh, so I don’t think we have much to worry about.” 

Editor's Note: Special thanks to XL Bar and Restaurant for providing their kitchen facilities for this shoot. 

Ingredients:

Directions:

A. Poach the sausage 

1. Poach two sausages for ten minutes under 80 degrees celsius – or simmer lovingly (you will know it’s ready because it will feel springy and not too soft – be sure not to boil them!). 

B. Make Carrot Salad (while the sausage is poaching)

1. Shred two carrots and1/8 cup of purple cabbage (picked is preferable). 

2. Mix shredded carrots and cabbage with 1/4 cup of mayonnaise, 1/4 of vinegar, and a diced clove of garlic. 

3. Sprinkle 1/4-1/2 cups of raisins and 1/8 cups of dried diced mangos.

4. Toss, then saran wrap and place in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat.

C. Ready the sauerkraut (while the sausage is poaching) 

1. Scoop 1/4 cup of sauerkraut into a bowl.

2. Fry 2-3 strips of bacon until they are nearly completely fried (approx. 80 percent).

3. Cut bacon into bite sized pieces, then place in the sauerkraut and mix (this allows you to use bacon fat to sauté your sour sauerkraut, bumping up the flavor). 

4. Sauté with the sauerkraut for a minute or two.

 

D. Frying the sausage

1. After poaching the sausages, place the sausages in a pan with vegetable oil or butter (depending on your preference). 

2. Fry until golden brown for 2-3 minutes.

E. Assemble the sandwich 

1. Take sausage off grill.

2. Take two slices of pumpernickel bread (bagels can also be used). Spread some thousand island dressing onto the bread to make the sandwich more moist.

3. Place a cheese slice on each piece of bread (this will keep the dressing from squirting out).

4. Cut the sausages in half horizontally, then place two sausage slices on each slice of bread (on top of the cheese).

5. Place the bacon and sauerkraut on top of the sausages slices.

6. Add a spoonful of thousand island dressing on top. 

7. Put the bread slices together and slice in half (horizontally, between the two rows of sausage slices).

8. Saran wrap the sandwich so that it won’t dry out. Place in the fridge. 

9. Unwrap during your lunch hour and enjoy.   

About the author: A ravenous foodie and frequent tbj contributor, Kyle Mullin has been working as a freelance reporter in Beijing since 2011.

Photos: Ken Liu

This series is sponsored by TooToo Organic Farm. Ask your favorite restaurant where they source their food supplies – TooToo Organic Farm can be their reliable choice!

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For questions, please e-mail service_en@tootoo.cn or visit our website at shop.tootoo.cn

For more recipes made with TooToo's fresh organic ingredients, check out Chef Phillip Taylor's spicy Italian sausage and tomato pasta, Chef Robert Cunningham's mango and mint salad and Chef Jun Trinh's pork and shiitake meatloaf, flavorful beef larp and spiced fish cake pasta.

Photos: Ken