This Perfect Reuben Is Probably the World's Best Office Lunch

There are some unspoken but universally understood rules regarding appropriate office lunch food. Salads, sandwiches (not egg salad), chicken soup, wraps, fruit, yogurt, and grain bowls are all relatively inoffensive.

But pickled herring, steamed Brussels sprouts, or yesterday's seafood casserole heated up in the already funky microwave will turn you into an office pariah and the focal point of a disturbed inter-office email chain.

Basically, if your lunch smells, it had better be damn tasty.

That's why this recipe for a classic corned beef sandwich from San Francisco's Wise Sons Deli works so well. Yes, there's the aroma of pickling spice and mustard, but there's something about the scent of corned beef that makes it an exception when it comes to forbidden office lunch smells. Maybe it's because you know the beef is so incredibly tender from sitting in the brine for a week (yeah, you need to get started on this yesterday) or that the Swiss cheese is melted just right. Either way, your coworkers will be jealous as they nuke their Sad Desk Lunches.

Take your brined, simmered, beautiful piece of beef and slather it with some homemade Russian dressing and butter on rye. Top with Swiss cheese, and some bonus kimchi for extra funk. Toast it up, and wrap it in wax paper so that it's ready to be devoured at 11 AM, because life is too short to wait till noon for lunch.

While your coworkers are hashtagging quinoa bowls and smoothies, you're busy licking hot meat bits from your fingers.