One step closer to a Pearl's Kitchen Rueben

Since we served our first corned beef sandwich people have asking us about a Pearl's Kitchen Reuben sandwich.  As any deli nosher worth his or her salt (pun intended) knows, a Reuben is a corned beef or pastrami sandwich on rye, grilled, with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Russian dressing. 

Well, the Reuben is a challenge we can't pass up.  Step one is mastering sauerkraut.  Sauerkraut is  pickled cabbage.  The cabbage is brined in salt water until suitably fermented.  Since cabbage is almost entirely water it produces its own brine once it comes in contact with salt.  Shred some cabbage into a crock, toss it with salt and - voila - in about 15 minutes the salt will have drawn so much water from the cabbage that it will be submerged in its own juices.  Leave it be for a few days or weeks (depending on the conditions) and you got yourself some sauerkraut.  I added some garlic and caraway and celery seeds for flavor.  

Our first batch was pulled out of the basement tonight after two weeks of fermentation.  It's flavorful and crispy and waiting to get heaped on some corned beef and slathered with dressing.  We are one step closer to the Reuben!