Reuben Dip — The Spread That Holds Two Families Together

The end of September, and the marsh grass around Charleston has turned gold — that particular, burnished gold that the Lowcountry wears in autumn like a crown. I walked to work through the golden light and thought about transitions: summer to fall, reading program to fall events, the marriage Robert and I are rebuilding from the marriage we had before. Everything is in motion. The question is not whether things change — they always change — but whether you can keep your balance while they do.

James is deep into his junior year and has begun talking about college in a way that is no longer hypothetical. He mentioned the College of Charleston, which is five minutes from our house. He mentioned USC, which is in Columbia. He mentioned Duke, which is ambitious and far away. I listen and nod and offer no opinion because I learned from my own parents that the worst thing you can do with a child's ambition is shape it into something convenient for you.

Carrie's Japanese class is going well. She has graduated from hiragana to katakana and is beginning basic conversational phrases. She greeted me in Japanese when I picked her up on Tuesday — "Okaeri nasai," which means "welcome home" and which she said with a formality that made me feel like I was being welcomed into a country I'd never visited. "That's the greeting you say when someone comes home," she explained. I said, "I know. I understood the feeling even without the words." She smiled — a rare Carrie smile, unguarded and warm.

I made pimento cheese this week — the Southern staple that Robert's mother used to make and that I have adapted over the years into my own version, which uses more pimento and less mayonnaise than Margaret's and includes a dash of Worcestershire sauce that Margaret would have considered vulgar but that I consider essential. Pimento cheese is a divisive food: you either grew up with it and consider it a food group, or you didn't and consider it a bizarre Southern affectation. The fact that I now make a hybrid of the Simmons and Blackwood versions feels like an apt metaphor for my marriage.

I visited Joy on Saturday. She was having a good day — present, happy, engaged. She showed me a painting she'd made in the activity program: a house with a blue door and a woman in the window. "That's Mama," she said. I looked at the painting and saw what Joy sees when she thinks of home: a door you can recognize, a mother who is always waiting, and a simplicity that the rest of us spend our lives trying to recover. I hung the painting on the refrigerator when I got home, next to James's school schedule and Carrie's Japanese vocabulary flashcards, and the refrigerator became a gallery of everything I love.

That afternoon, with Joy’s painting still in my hands and my heart somewhere between grief and gratitude, I wanted to make something that felt like a gathering — something you put in the middle of a table and let people crowd around. Reuben dip is exactly that kind of food: unpretentious, generous, a little bit of everything working together in a way that shouldn’t make sense but does. It’s become my go-to for the weeks when I need to feed people I love without having to explain myself. Here’s how I make it.

Reuben Dip

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 10–12

Ingredients

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 8 oz deli corned beef, chopped fine
• 1 cup sauerkraut, well-drained and roughly chopped
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese, divided
• 1/4 cup diced pimento peppers (jarred, drained)
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Rye crackers, cocktail rye bread, or sliced baguette for serving

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a shallow 1 1/2-quart baking dish or a 9-inch cast-iron skillet.
2. Mix the base. In a large bowl, beat together the softened cream cheese, sour cream, and mayonnaise until smooth. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, garlic powder, and onion powder.
3. Fold in the fillings. Add the chopped corned beef, drained sauerkraut, pimento peppers, and 1 cup of the shredded Swiss cheese. Season lightly with salt and a generous pinch of black pepper. Stir until fully combined.
4. Transfer and top. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared baking dish. Scatter the remaining 1/2 cup of Swiss cheese over the top.
5. Bake. Bake uncovered for 22–25 minutes, until the edges are bubbling and the cheese on top is melted and lightly golden.
6. Rest and serve. Let the dip rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serve warm directly from the dish alongside rye crackers or cocktail bread.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 210 | Protein: 10g | Fat: 17g | Carbs: 4g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 480mg