Years ago, when I was working at Moe’s Deli up on Frankford Avenue, we’d make all kinds of sandwiches, including Reubens and “Specials” with corned beef or pastrami. One ingredient of those sandwiches, “Russian Dressing”, fell out of favor over the years- you can’t even find it in the market anymore. Its not surprising when reading the label of commercially prepared dressing and “High Fructose Corn Syrup” is the first ingredient! Over time I tried many variations of my own “Russian dressing” and finally landed on this version, which can be made using tomato sauce or Andreas Viestad’s “Ketchup” (Season 09, Episode 02-which is more like a roasted vegetable salsa and adds a lot of depth) which I use on Reubens, Roast Beef Hoagies, even London broil last week. Give it a try!

Ingredients:

2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp celery seed
1 tsp smoked paprika
4 tsp lemon juice
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp molasses
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
8 oz. tomato sauce (or substitute Andreas Viestad’s “ketchup”)
1/4 cup very finely chopped shallots
2 tsp chopped/crushed chipotle with adobo sauce.

Steps:

Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan, stir well, and bring to a boil covered. Reduce the heat to a medium simmer with the lid removed for about 10 minutes and transfer to a small mason jar. This lasts about three weeks in the refrigerator.