Sorry purists but I usually get distracted while waiting for both sides to brown and end up burning one side or the other. My mother came up with what we call “toasted cheese” sandwiches which are a lot simpler in this day and age (not to mention faster).
toast two slices of bread in toaster.
butter them thickly
add cheese of choice
place in microwave for 30 seconds.
I sometimes like putting cheese on both slices and then microwaving - turning them into an open-faced toasted cheese sandwich. Slices of apple on top are good too.
I’ve seen a number of people mention this. I’ve tried it before, but toasting-then-microwaving doesn’t work for me. It makes the bread soft and kind of soggy, no longer “toasty.”
The open faced sandwich is pretty good though - my Mom used to serve them open faced - but she’d toast it under the broiler to get the cheese a little browned and bubbly.
Yeah, one of the reasons I would get a toaster oven for. I just don’t have the counter space to justify it, though. My grandfather used to make the most delicious open-faced ham and cheeses with onion in the toaster oven. Made the whole apartment smell great.
Alas, his time has past in this world (he made it to 97!), but the memories of the smells and tastes still remain. I wish I knew exactly what combination of bread, cheese, and meat he used, and how exactly he prepared the onions (although I seem to recall them just being thinly sliced into rings), because I can’t quite replicate my memories of the dish.
This was my go-to late night snack as a kid, and I still make them today.
Last night I sliced a multigrain bun in half, layered each side with alternating slices of old cheddar and mozzarella, sprinkled a goodly amount of black pepper on each, and then toasted them under the broiler till the cheese was just starting to brown.
Eat open-faced.
Occasionally I’ll add a slice of onion, or tomato, or hot pepper rings, or a combination of any of the above before toasting.
No no no. Its really not the same. Cheese on toast is all fine and dandy (and incidentally, you’re missing the thin spread of marmite on top of the butter, before the cheese), but it doesn’t have the same crispness as a grilled cheese – butter the bread on both sides, marmite on one side (the inside), add cheese, sandwich together and cook in a dry frying pan till the bread is toasty on the outside, flip, do the other side, and then revel in the deliciousness of a grilled cheese.
Any accusations of having gone native will be met with a glare.
I know…right? How have I never put two and two together. I just ran out of cheese, so I’ll have to report back later. But, yeah, my two usual uses of Marmite (and its ilk) are buttered toast or cheese sandwiches.
Well, I tried the grilled cheese & Vegemite and it was good! I think I prefer the sweet & savory clash of jam & cheese a bit more, but this is great for when I have a serious umami craving. The only point that needed addressing is how best to get the Vegemite (or Marmite) on the untoasted bread before frying (as it tends to be quite viscous and it’ll easy tear up the bread.) So, I spread the Vegemite evenly on the cheese instead, and then put that in the sandwich. Problem solved. Fried it up in some butter and yum!
So I went for a grilled cheese the other day. I opted to try frying with vegetable oil instead of margarine. I was going to do one in mayo too, but autopilot kicked in and the second was in the skillet with the oil before I realized what I was doing.
While the sandwich toasted up nicely, there was something wrong in the flavor department. It just didn’t have the right buttery taste.
I may try mayo next time, if I remember.
Okay, so I started chewing Big Red as my gum of choice in high school 25 years ago. I liked the cinnamon flavor. I’d occasionally chew other flavors of gum, like Juicy Fruit or spearmint or Double Mint, but Big Red was my fave and constant. For a while I slacked off on gum chewing, then came back to it. For damn near 20 years I was a pretty consistent Big Red chewer.
Then one day I noticed they revamped the packaging. Instead of the old Red package, it was new with black on it. Okay. Chewed gum, wondered what I ate that had pepper in it. After a few sticks and trying a different pack, I realized that they had reformulated Big Red to make it hot.
I blame Dentyne, with their Fire and Ice packs. They made Ice gum using menthol to give a cooling flavor - menthol, blech. Yeah, it’s cooling, but it tastes nasty. And so as a counterpunch, they made a Hot gum that used pepper, and decided that cinnamon should be the flavor of that gum.
Suddenly that was all the rage, and one day Big Red changed. Grrrr.
I usually toast the bread in the toaster, then add the toppings (butter, Marmite, cheese, in that order) and stick it in the toaster oven to brown the cheese. That way, the bread isn’t raw in the middle.
I don’t know if it’s been mentioned … I’m pretty sure it hasn’t … but BACON JAM is the very bestest thing to put on a grilled cheese sandwich. That is all.
So I opted to go with grilled cheese sandwiches tonight, and made up 1 with mayonnaise to try it out, and one with butter.
I used my regular sandwich wheat bread and grated cheddar (I grated it).
I started with the mayo one, spread mayo on the outsides of two slices and began toasting. I sprinkled cheese on one half to start melting during the toasting, then decided to try double toasting the other slice, so I stacked it toasted side agains the cheese, applied more mayo, and flipped the stack to finish. I crisped up to perfection.
I then wiped the skillet, and made up the second with butter, double toasting both slices.
Now for the most important rating, the taste. The mayonnaise sandwich tasted off, I could definitely taste the mayo and it detracted from my expectations. The grilled in mayo flavor just didn’t work. After two bites (to give it appropriate amount of reflection and evaluation), I skipped on to the butter version. Much better.
So for the mayonnaise haters out there, score one for you. It does leave a taste difference, and not one that I approved. Butter’s better.
Cheese on toast is all fine and dandy (and incidentally, you’re missing the thin spread of marmite on top of the butter, before the cheese), but it doesn’t have the same crispness as a grilled cheese – butter the bread on both sides, marmite on one side (the inside), add cheese, sandwich together and cook in a dry frying pan till the bread is toasty on the outside, flip, do the other side, and then revel in the deliciousness of a grilled cheese.