Homemade Rueben Sandwiches

These were amazing! Restaurant quality! This was a great way to make a great rueben, and they weren't hard to make, you just have to invest the time to simmer the corned beef. This was all Patrick's project and was our St. Patrick's Day dinner for this year!

1 (2 1/2 lb.) Vienna Beef Corned Beef
2 bottles of beer (Patrick used Harp)
1/8 c. peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 can saurkraut
1 loaf of marble rye bread
Thousand Island dressing (next time we will make out own, this time we used Marie's and it was great)
swiss cheese
butter

1. In a large stockpot, bring the two bottles of beer to a boil. Add the corned beef and enough water to bring the liquid level to an inch above the beef. Return to boil. When water is boiling, reduce heat to a medium simmer and skim out foam. Add the peppercorns and bay leaf. Cover and let simmer for at least 3 hours (this was perfect for us).
2. Drain and lightly rinse sauerkraut. Pat dry and let sit on paper towels.
3. Take corned beef out and let rest for 10 minutes.
4. Slice the corned beef diagonally against the grain. Assemble sandwiches by topping bread with dressing, corned beef, sauerkraut, and swiss. Spead butter over the top piece of bread and place the sandwich, butter side down in a large skillet (we used our cast iron one). When the bread has browned, spread butter on the face up side and turn the sandwich to brown that side.
5. Remove from the skillet and slice in half diagonally.


We ate ours with oven fries (check for the recipe in the potatoes tag!).