Reuben & Rachel

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 7/30/02 6:39:02 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Bapopik at AOL.COM
writes:

> REUBEN & RACHEL--I've done much work on the Reuben sandwich, but little on
>  the Rachel.  It's not as popular, but it should be recorded.  It's in the
LA
>  Public Library's online menu collection.  The earliest R&R is from
>  Arbuckle's, 1101 Sophia Street, Fredericksburg, VA, from 1983.  Also on the
>  menu are "Long Island Ice Tea," "Colorado Bulldog," and "Potato Skins."  A
>  REUBEN is corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and thousand island
> dressing
>  on rye bread.  A RACHEL is corned beef, cole slaw, Swiss cheese and
thousand
>  island dressing on rye bread.

The song "Reuben and Rachel"
    Reuben, Reuben, I've been thinking
    What a queer world this would be
    If the men were all transported
    Far beyond the Northern Sea! etc.
has been around forever---it may be an authentic anonymous folk song,
although one Web site (http://www.acronet.net/~robokopp/usa/reubenan.htm)
says that the melody was written in 1871 by one William Gooch.

Even older is the book "Reuben and Rachel: or, Tales of Old Times; a Novel "
by Suzanna Rowson, published in 1799.

Now MWCD10 gives the etymology of "Reuben [sandwich]" as "prob. fr. Reuben
Kulakofsky died 1960 Am. grocer" and dates it 1956.  (I have no idea whether
the ADS-L archives has anything different.)

Conclusion:  any restaurant or delicatessen which advertises sandwiches of
its own invention is likely to think of inventing a sandwich to be named the
"Rachel" after the song to accompany the now-standardized Reuben.   However,
there is AS YET no standardization of what is meant by a "Rachel", merely
whatever the restauranteur (e.g. "Arbuckle") happens to choose to offer.

It appears that the indefatigable Judge Popik has managed to produce a
definitive etymology for a term which does not yet exist.

Other items:  I think this was covered on the list a while ago, but whereas
"iced tea" has ice in it, should not "ice tea" be frozen solid?

I still say that frozen potato skins were available commercially from food
wholesalers by 1980.

That "Rachel" from Arbuckle's does not sound very tasty.  Cole slaw is
crunchy, which sauerkraut is not, but most cole slaws use a sauce that is not
all that different from Thousand Island dressing, with the result that
Arbuckle's appears to be selling a mere corned-beef-and-Swiss-cheese sandwich
with cabbage added for crunch.

           - Jim Landau (who learned to make cole slaw from a World War
II-era US Navy recipe that advocated wholesale quantities of black pepper).