Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Eat This: Irish Rachel Sandwich

I have to admit, I hate Reubens. I am not particularly fond of corned beef and have always hated sauerkraut ever since I was 5 years old and an evil nun at catholic school made me eat it, even though I warned her I did not like the taste of it, and then I vomited all over the cafeteria table like some sort of demon-possessed child in The Exorcist. (serves her right)

But then last summer a colleague and I met for lunch at The Local--a perfectly lovely Irish pub in Minneapolis--and I had one of these sandwiches. I love the notion of replacing the two things I don't like, with two ingredients I really do like--turkey and cole slaw. Also, I used to live in Ireland, and the Irish really were always eating cole slaw on their sandwiches, so it felt familiar to eat this (although I never really ate a sandwich quite like this in Galway).

So, with St Patty's day right around the corner, thought the timing might be good to share this recipe with you. And I can only make a strong suggestion that you enjoy this with a pint of Caffrey's (Mr Beeper claims it is some of the best in Irish ale and gets hearts in his eyes when he spies it on the beer list).


Incidently, if you ever make it to Minneapolis, you should 1) call me, and 2) make a point of visiting The Local. It is as close to an Irish pub as you will come in the US and is run by real Irishmen, and the chips and vinegar are authentic, and unbelievably (but true), sells more Jameson Irish Whiskey than any other place on planet earth. I mean, as I said, I used to live in Ireland, and trust me, there is no small amount of whiskey consumed in that country in their own prolific pubs--but apparently, here in my hometown, we can out-drink the Irish when it comes to whiskey. And as a girl who enjoys her whiskey, well, I do my best to help out.

7 comments:

Liz said...

I am, sadly, allergic to beef, and sourkraut - um, ew. so needless to say, i'm DYING to try this!! THANK YOU!

Jessica said...

Yum! I do this same kind of thing w/ muffalettas--mine are not authentic, I'm sure, but they're reminiscent and they're tasty.

I studied in Galway one summer in college; would go back in a heartbeat!

Lakeside Sewing said...

YUMMMM! That looks fabulous! I also can't stand Rubens....wish I did...love the look and smell...just not the taste. We have an irish pub here in NH that is fabulous too! If you are ever this way...you'll have to call and I'll get you there. Erin Go Brah!

CraftCrave said...

Just a quick note to let you know that a link to this post will be placed on CraftCrave.com in the Handcraft category today [11 Mar 01:49pm GMT]. Thanks, Maria

eight feet said...

Okay, that sandwich may have pushed lunchtime up a few hours--yum! Thanks for the tip on The Local, we'll have to check it out the next time we are down in the cities.

lisa said...

Thanks for sharing this! I didn’t know that Irish eat cole slaw on their sandwiches. It kind of explains a lot. I always thought everyone did, until I ordered it on a trip to Florida. I got a very peculiar look. Since I was raised in an area were a lot of Irish settled, it explains where this must have come from. Very interesting. And now I have to try making this sandwich!

janimal said...

LOVE this sandwich. A local deli here serves this samndwich and calls it the "Rebel Reuben". I order it with cheddar instead of swiss and gobble it down. Mmmmmmmm.