Baltimore Vegan Reubens: Liquid Earth

Get ready for the most realistic vegan reuben ever. And while I don't think I would give up other vegan reubens for this sandwich, that statement is closer to high praise than it is to condemnation.

Truthfully, there is something slightly pedestrian about this trueben. But that fact alone is what makes it so unique. Never have I tasted a vegan or vegetarian reuben that was so close to the real thing. The cheese, though mild and not overly applied (VeganRella, we were told), and the sauerkraut, in about the right proportion, the pale deli rye-- all were not memorable in their own right, but served as the appropriate backdrop for salty (but not too salty, thankfully), robustly-hued tofu "meat" that even B. thought tasted remarkably like the real thing.



This sandwich is a bit of a celebrity. It earned mention on Homicide, a cop show set in Baltimore. And with good reason. It seems exactly like the sort of thing a newly vegetarian cop would gravitate towards. We're more of the tempeh crowd, but still, this is a sandwich I would probably return for again and again, if I lived in Baltimore.

Located on Aliceanna near the Inner Harbor, Liquid Earth does feel a bit like the kind of coffee shop/juice bar/raw and vegan eatery you might find in Portland---reminiscent of places like Proper Eats and the Red and Black, but with a little East Coast edginess. The prices were sort of high, like Vita Cafe the sandwiches had no sides or even pickles, but were a buck or two higher than you'd expect in Portland. But man do they know their way around tofu-as-meat. The stuff was marinated, though appropriately dry, and thinly sliced to perfection, both in the Reuben and the Philly we had (the latter of which we ordered especially vegan, for a buck or so extra). Though there was a hummus sandwich and some nut meat raw tacos, I don't think I saw tempeh on the menu, tofu being the topping of choice. But if you do something right, by all means, keep doing it. In this case, simplicity was the ticket. As someone who obviously eats a lot of vegan reubens, I appreciate some innovation and play on the classic, with unique marinades, slaws instead of kraut, and stand-out sauces. But this sandwich reminds you of what it is all about: five relatively simple components that fit together just right.

Thanks to B. for catching the homicide reference (and having the friends in Maryland) that made this little spring break excursion to Liquid Earth possible.

February Reuben Round-Up

I've got a wealth of recipes and reuben spottings for you this month, both from recent reviews and postings and from the krauty annals of the vegan blog-world. There's really a lot, so I'll just get started, in no particular order.



Tami at Vegan Appetite teases us with the Corned Seitan recipe, a tester from well-loved vegan cookbook author, Robin Robertson, raving that it's even better than the Chicago Diner. That's high praise.



And here's a recipe from almost a year ago from Diet, Dessert and Dogs, another inventive vegan blog, it's an adaptation of the VWAV tempeh reuben, and seems well-worth testing out.

I'm always somewhat entertained when a small-circulation journalist takes on vegetarianism or veganism as a challenge, and is immensely terrified. Check out this Philadelphia writer as he tries out a week without meat, and consequently, seitan reuben sliders at Horizons. Living on the Vedge also clues us in on a good spot for vegan reubens in Philly.

Man, and that's just the beginning. Here are some more recipes from the blogs. We've got suggestions from the likes of Vegan Parenting, Vegan Footprints, VegWeb, Awesome. Vegan. Rad., Smarter Fitter, ...but what does she eat?, and the Food Network, of all places! Note this one is only vegetarian, but easily adaptable of course.

Can I just pause in all this and say how shocking/awesome (pick one) it is that a Wisconsin restaurant called The Cheese Factory has a vegan reuben on the menu? Speaking of which, apparently the Comet Cafe is the place to go for a vegan reuben in Milwaukee. And Falls Church, VA, another somewhat unlikely spot, has a reuben option as well.

And just for the hell of it, I'll throw in a book review.

Along those lines, and something a little closer to home for me at least, the Indy Week just did a feature on a recent vegan cookbook. I swear, the Triangle gets more like Portland every day. But for you real Portlanders, I've got confirmation that Backspace does indeed have a vegan Reuben -- or something like it.

Vegetable Love contest poll opens!

Just a reminder that you can vote for my entry in the Vegetable Love contest over at Fat Free Vegan now, through Friday. Susan got a whopping 34 entries, and as expected, a number were heart-shaped and used beets as well. But it's an impressive spread! Please head over there and vote for your favorite. Just for voting, you can be entered to win a Nava Atlas cookbook as well!

And while I'm at it, for a change of pace, Vegan Dad has created a tofu reuben recipe. Check it out.

Oh, and also, I have joined the club. The club of vegan bloggers owning high powered blenders. And I have a started a blog of recipes that utilize primarily this device, mostly experimental. See it at Three Horsepower Vegan.

A "Vegetable Love" Letter

The first birthday of this blog passed last month, and I almost didn't notice. Maybe it's hard to imagine that I have somehow succeeded at talking about vegan reubens at least twice a month for the last 12. For the few of you that have been following this blog from the beginning, you've probably caught on that though I recently lived in Portland, Oregon, I have since relocated to North Carolina for a couple years of schooling. B., my partner-in-crime so to speak (he has accompanied me on nearly every review), who actually came up with the idea for this blog, has remained in Portland, though he visits about once a month. Not only did he inspire this blog, but when I moved, he advocated for it to continue ("PVR must not die!" I believe were his words.) So we've plugged on, posting less frequently of course, but I somehow keep finding ways to to talk about reubens since August, when I began classes here.

So when I saw that Susan of one of the my all-time favorite vegan blogs, Fat Free Vegan, was holding her Vegetable Love competition again this year, it seemed like a fitting opportunity this time around. After trying so many reuben variations, and not a few reuben recipes in the home, B. and I have developed some distinct preferences and ideas about what should go into our ideal reuben. This recipe incorporates what we've learned so far, while probably being the healthiest (yes, it's fat-free!) reuben recipe out there. It's pretty entertaining, but true, that I can't see a better way to honor the man I love from afar on Valentine's Day, than with a vegan reuben recipe crafted with him in mind (pssst--by the way, he doesn't know, yet). I've tried to consider his personal tastes (for example, I believe B. would say that a vegan reuben needs to start with marinated baked tempeh, mushrooms and caramelized onions on a dense, dark rye) but I'm also excited to experiment a bit with ingredients I haven't before (for example, I'm enamored of grated beets lately, and always wanted to try a dressing with white beans and no mayo or oil).

Thus I bring you my entry! Because I'm sure not enough people will incorporate beets and heart shapes into their submissions!

Tempeh Reuben Sliders with Raw Beet Slaw and Red-Wine Braised Mushrooms



I don't usually do cutesy things like this, but since it's a slider (yes, another B. inspiration) and Valentine's themed, I thought it would be fun to make them heart-shaped. However, this recipe does not need to be modified at all to make a normal-size, normally-shaped sandwich--in fact, if you actually make sliders, you will have left-overs.

There are a lot of components and thus a lot of ingredients and steps, but really, it's pretty simple! I'll try to present the information in the least confusing way possible, and more or less chronologically.

Before I get to the recipe, we might as well talk about bread choice. There are a couple different ryes out there-- probably marble rye, with its distinctive swirl, and "deli rye" which is usually a lighter bread, sometimes with caraway, are the most common. B. and I really like a dense, dark rye bread, because of its flavor mostly. But I also like that it probably has more fiber and wholegrain, and B. likes bread that can keep saucy dressings and kraut juice off his hands. I think our favorites have been the vollkornbrot from last month and the somewhat-local-to-Portland Abiqua Farms Old World Rye we used when trying out a recipe from Bazu's blog. But really dense breads can sometimes be apt to crumble, and after watching B.'s attempt to slice the vollkornbrot recently, I wanted a bread that wouldn't pose such a challenge during the delicate cookie-cutter procedure. After reviewing the options at the co-op, I settled on this.



I usually try to avoid imported foods, for environmental reasons as well as the fact that especially a bread is going to be less fresh, but this bread seemed to fulfill my criteria of dark, dense and resilient--plus it came thinly sliced already. And I'm not going to lie, the extremely happy looking woman on the package probably had something to do with it. Ultimately I was satisfied with the choice, but I think you should just go with whatever bread you prefer when trying this out. Any sandwich bread should work fine. Who knows, maybe I could have used the cookie cutter on the vollkornbrot with no mishaps. This recipe marks my first time using a cookie cutter on anything other than cookie dough (Crazy, I know!).

On to the recipe! Note that this recipe makes enough for two (normal-sized) sandwiches.

First, you probably want to marinate the tempeh.

Marinade:

1/4 cup of applesauce
1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons stone-ground mustard
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 pressed or chopped garlic gloves
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper or red pepper flakes

8 oz tempeh, sliced thin lengthwise

Mix the marinade together in a small bowl or large measuring cup. Slicing the tempeh to make a thinner slab can be tricky, a large sharp knife helps, but we find it greatly improves the sandwich. Place tempeh in a single layer in a Pyrex baking or casserole dish and pour marinade over it. The marinade is very thick; try to pour it so it distributes evenly over both pieces of tempeh. Marinate for a minimum of half an hour; we recommend overnight. Flip it halfway through if you can.

If you are going to take a cookie cutter to your tempeh, I recommend doing so before you put it in the marinade. I marinated the tempeh first because I had trouble finding an appropriately-sized heart-shaped cookie cutter and wanted to give the tempeh a day to soak while I tracked another one down. Then I realized that I probably didn't want to try to cut the tempeh when it was piping hot from the oven, so I cut it right in the pan before putting it into the oven. This worked fine, especially because you get bonus little marinated bits you can use in a salad or something else later, but doing it before marinating might just be simpler -- the tempeh tends to kinda stick in the cutter and you need to push the piece out. But the tempeh held together well and didn't crumble as you might expect. Man, now the possibilities are endless. Tempeh ducks, tempeh shamrocks, tempeh gingerbread men...



With the tempeh marinating in the fridge, I made the sandwich dressing next as these kinds of things are always better when they have a chance to "meld" in the fridge as well.

White Bean Reuben Spread

1/4 cup cooked white beans, cannelini, great northern or navy
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons minced white or yellow onion
2 tablespoons minced pickle

Blend all ingredients together in a blender or food processor. Alternately, you could probably mash the beans by hand, or use an immersion blender. If you have a powerful blender or food processor, you could save yourself a little work and toss the onion and pickles straight in there first. When blended, transfer to a jar and refrigerate.

If you're on a roll of making things in advance, you might as well throw together the slaw. This is my stand-in for sauerkraut. It definitely has more of a fresh beet flavor versus a pickled flavor, which I thought actually complemented the sandwich well.

Raw Beet Slaw:

1 medium beet, peeled
3 tablespoons red wine or sherry vinegar
pinch of salt
generous amount of fresh ground pepper
a couple pinches of dried dill

Grate or shred beet and toss with vinegar and seasonings. Refrigerate. Note that this slaw has a lot of juice. You might want to put some in a colander in the sink to drain while your tempeh is baking, before you construct the sandwich. The excess liquid didn't harm the slider, though, and if you don't mind a lot of red juice on your plate, don't worry about it.

Because the tempeh needs to bake for awhile, you can hold off on the braised mushrooms until you are just about to take the tempeh out of the oven.

Red-Wine Braised Mushrooms

Braising is basically cooking something over high heat for a few minutes to sear in some flavor, then reducing the heat and simmering for the remaining time. B. and I have also found we really like caramelized onions on our reubens-- caramelizing is a process of cooking onions over high heat until they start to break down and sweeten. Usually this uses a lot of oil. I thought this method would thus combine two of our favorite reuben toppings, and "red-wine braised" just sounds romantic. If you are worried about your onions burning and sticking, keep more red wine on hand to deglaze as you go. You could also probably use a good vinegar instead of red wine if you prefer.

4 large white mushrooms with stems on, cleaned however you prefer, sliced
1 small yellow or white onion, halved and sliced thinly into strips
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 to 2 cups red wine
salt and pepper to taste
Note: I'm sure this recipe would also be wonderful with the addition of some fresh herbs, like thyme, oregano or rosemary.

Heat a pan, a wok or cast iron skillet could work well, but you need to have a lid for it, and toss in your onions. Cook on high heat, stirring frequently, and adding red wine as needed to keep from sticking. When they start to brown, add mushrooms, garlic, salt and pepper. Stir and cook for five minutes. Reduce heat, add more red wine, and cover, allowing to simmer for about two minutes. For the last few minutes, cook uncovered until the majority of the wine evaporates.

When you are done marinating the tempeh, simply transfer the dish to a pre-heated 350 degree oven and bake for 30 minutes. Reubens are typically grilled and usually the kraut is warmed also. For this recipe, I recommend trying to put the sandwich together while the mushrooms and tempeh are still warm and the bread is fresh out of the toaster. It also might be good to let your spread and slaw come to room temp if they've been in the fridge.

Toast your bread. Top one piece with tempeh, mushroom and onion mixture, and then slaw. Slather the other piece with dressing and lay on top. Or feel free to use dressing on both pieces if you like. Enjoy!



Since this is a reuben review site, I feel compelled to rate my own performance, though I think that would be sort of awkward. Over all I aimed for a recipe that was healthy and relatively easy to replicate and I think I succeeded. And don't get me wrong, it was tasty! But this recipe is certainly nothing if not heavily open to adaptation. As you can see from the pictures, the marinade turned out quite thick -- I went with applesauce instead of say, apple juice or straight apple cider vinegar because I had an open jar and wanted to see what would happen (in case you couldn't tell, I didn't really test any of these recipes before this first trial run). Since applesauce is a popular ingredient in vegan baking, I figured lots of you would have it on hand as well -- but feel free to substitute at will, or include other flavorings, like ginger, pickling spices or sweeteners, to the marinade. Same goes for everything else really. I think the wine-braised mushrooms and onions was my favorite part, but take my note about fresh herbs to heart.



Thanks must go to Susan, for hosting this fun contest, all the vegan cooks out there whose various reuben recipes have informed this one in one way or another, and of course to you, for reading! Susan will post the entries on Fat Free Vegan on February 11th, when you'll get to vote. While the prizes look awesome, I'm just happy for the excuse to craft this little labor of love. See you next time (or in approximately a month, if you're B.)!

January Reuben Round-Up

As the month draws to a close, here are a few tempting reuben images for you from the realm of vegan and vegetarian food blogs.




Brooke of simply vegetarian tracks what she eats and extols the delicacy of tempeh reubens (pardon the cheese, at least she uses vegan mayo).




Ate-Bit Vegan is apparently guilty of drinking and typing, but his passion for reubens and DIY seitan skillz make up for it. Also, I think his blog post title could be an allusion to yours truly.



Sick of Lettuce yet again makes me jealous of all the delicious vegan eats available in L.A. Despite the recent closing of reuben-offering The Vegan Spot, the options are obviously still plentiful.



And last but not least, some love from this PDX-N.C. team. B. just ended another wonderful visit here, full of delicious food, drink and merriment as usual, and of course one of the first things we did was whip up our own version of the apple-based Candle Cafe reuben again. Here you see B.'s attempt to polish off the excess kraut as well as a wonderfully dense rye bread called vollkornbrot, baked at the local co-op, with this marinated tempeh reuben slider. Cider vinegar instead of juice and a bit of Korean hot pepper in the marinade gave this reuben a bit more tang and bite than usual, and the squat little loaf resulted in a unique size that this picture probably doesn't convey. All around a tasty take on the classic.

With just a press of the 'Vegan' button: Tempeh Reuben at Cafe Yumm

Always wanted to open a restaurant franchise? If you read this blog, and aren't too squeamish about cheese and meat, Cafe Yumm might be your opportunity. We discovered this place after attempting, yet again, to get the tempeh reuben at Nearly Normal's in Corvallis, post-vegan egg nog party with our friend ROB. ROB recalled a new cafe that had just opened and had lots of vegan options (ROB is not vegan, but perhaps finds it interesting--the vegan nog was great!). We wandered over. It was 10 am on Christmas Eve and I had pretty much given up on reubens for this trip. In fact, when ROB spotted it on the menu I thought he was pulling my leg. But there it was. Turkey or tempeh reuben. With red onion, tomato, house reuben sauce, swiss cheese and kraut on rye and a side of corn chips. $6.95.

The owner was very friendly and pressed various samples on us. Cafe Yumm's specialties are their rice bowls, wholesome concoctions of your choice of beans, rice and various veggies and condiments, topped with a trade marked Yumm sauce. There were a few varieties of sauce, all vegan and gluten free. The Original sauce reminded me very much of the lemon tahini dressing at the Paradox, unctuous and a little garlicky.

Obviously I had my sights set on the sandwich, though. When I inquired about vegan options, the owner informed me that they don't use mayonaise, only Veganaise, so the reuben sauce was already good. They even have a vegan button on the cash register to make sure no order gets screwed up. I believe a function of the vegan button is also that it automatically converts cheese to avocado. Magical!

A chain where a true vegan meal is not only assured but practically encouraged (there was even a vegan ginger spice cookie for dessert), options are healthy and plentiful, and substitutions earn neither resentment or extra charges. Could it get any better?



B. and I both enjoyed this sandwich quite a bit. The red onion and tomato were a nice touch, and the fact that they had an already vegan reuben sauce really gives this review a boost. The bread was light and crispy and not too oily. The portions were generous (avocado in place of cheese, always great!). The corn chips were freshly fried. The only detraction from this sandwich, I am sad to report, is that the tempeh (they use Surata brand) was surprisingly bland. It had a dark crispy exterior, which leads me to believe it was grilled or baked beforehand, but it really would have benefited from a good marinating. The slab of tempeh was ample, and the other garnishes were reasonable in proportion, so unfortunately the blandness really stood out for me. Maybe they avoid seasoning the tempeh too much as they also serve it on skewers with Yumm sauce--the sauce is pretty flavorful and intense and might make any additional flavoring unnecessary. We give the sandwich a 3.5, mostly a reflection of the vegan-friendliness of this establishment.

We're also excited to report that Cafe Yumm will soon open a location in Portland, near PSU in downtown (a location in Beaverton is already confirmed). This franchise, which started in Eugene and seems to be catching on across the state, offers a variety of healthy vegan meals--I for one would be happy to return frequently, and though I don't usually eat at franchises, the idea of a reliable, familiar and nourishing vegan meal being available in various cities in Oregon appeals to me very much.

Cafe Yumm
2001 NW Monroe Avenue, #109
Corvallis, OR 97330
Restaurant: 757-YUMM (9866)
Hours: Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 10am-8pm
(With new locations opening soon in Beaverton, and supposedly also near PSU in downtown Portland.)

Stumptown, under snow

So, as those of you in PDX know (and those of you who may have had holiday travels that unfortunately put you through our airport) this place has gotten some heavy snow recently. Thanks to that, I arrived in Portland about 36 hours behind schedule. The snow also means that transportation within in the city is extremely difficult. So basically my plans of reviewing a Portland Vegan Reuben have been sadly dashed.

In the meantime, I think I can manage another blog round-up. But first, I just learned that Isa Moskowitz and her husband have come out with a seitan now available at Food Fight in Portland. I can assume a couple things, 1) it's probably much better than your typical grocery store seitan for those that don't make our own and 2) Probably makes a killer reuben. Buy local!




For those of you looking for a new tempeh reuben recipe to try, this one popped up online. Also check out a tutorial for DIY kraut on one of my favorite vegan blogs. The blog Vegetarianized! also offers us a recipe, creatively incorporating arugula (if you are the type that digs Reubens, you probably also dig this sometimes spicy, bitter green). Here's another recipe (from an online magazine called Glam, oddly enough), which incorporates seitan that you 'corn' ahead of time.

Anyone in the Boston area should check out this new restaurant that the PETA reported on this month. The idea of a maple-cured tempeh reuben with roasted tomatoes is just heightening my reuben craving...damn this weather!

And last but not least, 'Fixed gal' of the blog 'i like bikes' introduces me to the idea of a 'Georgia reuben.' I like that. I've often thought about different regional interpretations of the reuben calculus. I might do a post just on that someday.