An Out of This World Corned Beef Sandwich

A good sandwich is one of the joys of eating. Delicious items stuffed in between two pieces of bread is such an obvious way to consume food it's hard to believe the Earl of Sandwich was the first person to ever do so. For my money, the best sandwich in the city is from Di Rienzo's. If I have to go on a long trip I've taken their turkey and prosciutto with Havarti, lettuce, mayo, tomato, and spicy eggplant with me as needed comfort food to deal with the rigours of traveling. An astronaut took this concept to the extreme in the sixties by bringing a sandwich into orbit with him. As we learned when Homer went to space back when "The Simpsons" was considered groundbreaking and risque, food particles in a weightless environment can gum up machinery. On his first flight into space, John Young took a corned beef sandwich a fellow astronaut gave him and zipped it into his space suit before he boarded the rocket for the Gemini 3 mission. At some point on the trip, Young pulled out the sandwich and showed it to his commander, who reminded him of the safety risk and scolded him for it. Young was more formally reprimanded when he came back to Earth, as part of his mission was to test new dehydrated food packets and some congressmen thought he was costing the U.S. millions of dollars by ignoring the actual food that they were up there to try out. In honour of National Sandwich Day, you can either recreate the basic corned beef sandwich Young smuggled onboard (he later remarked it was without mustard or pickles), or you can make yourself the deli mainstay that is the Reuben. 

Ingredients

rye bread (pretzel rolls can also be used)
butter
Swiss cheese
good quality corned beef
sauerkraut, drained
115 g mayonnaise
45 g ketchup
30 g horseradish
12.5 g granulated sugar
10 mL Worcestershire sauce
2. 5 g paprika
Kosher salt
black pepper, freshly ground if possible

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, ketchup, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, and paprika until everything is combined. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Butter one side of a slice of bread. On another slice, spread the Russian dressing you just made on one side. Place some Swiss cheese, corned beef, and sauerkraut on the non-buttered side of the bread. Top the sandwich with the other slice of bread, dressing side down. Butter the top of the sandwich you've made.
3. Heat a skillet big enough for the sandwich over medium heat. Place the sandwich in the pan and cook until it is golden and the cheese has melted, 3 minutes per side.