My favorite sandwich is the Reuben. I prefer mine with Pastrami, on rye, with Thousand Island dressing.
Last week for St. Pat's my wife made our traditional corned beef and potatoes. She also bought swiss cheese and rye bread, so I could make Reubens at work. Corned beef is an acceptable substitute, but the only sauerkraut we have in the house is some "Glory" seasoned sauerkraut (has apples and some other spices). So, I was going to end up with something a little off anyway.
I also didn't have any Thousand Island dressing. I'd whip some up, but seems a lot of effort to go through at work just for lunch. Instead, I found a packet of tartar sauce. As I mulled this over, i realized it's pretty much the same thing as Thousand Island dressing, except with vinegar instead of ketchup. I experimented with the sauce on the side, first, and it wasn't really bad. I also threw on some Arugula that I picked from our garden, and that produced a nice bitter counterpoint to the other flavors going on.
Not sure I could sell it in a restaurant, but it was pretty tasty for my purposes. YTBMV.
Just some inspiration for you budding cooks out there to be bold and try mixing your flavors.
Edit: OK, Wikipedia describes a "Rachel" as a Reuben made with pastrami and cole slaw instead of corned beef and sauerkraut. (Also says that the Reuben is usually made with Russian dressing instead of Thousand Island, but that's just heresy.) So, I was actually making something close to the Rachel, if you figure that cole slaw gets its tang from vinegar, as does tartar sauce.
Edit01: From the same Wiki article, another reason why Milwaukee is the culinary capital of the world:
Quote:
Reuben egg rolls, sometimes called "Irish egg rolls," use the standard reuben sandwich filling of corned beef, sauerkraut and cheese inside a deep-fried egg roll wrapper. Typically served with thousand island dressing as an appetizer or snack, they originated at Mader's, a German restaurant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where chef Dennis Wegner created them for a summer festival in about 1990.
Another reason to go to SummerFest!