Two slices of bread, all four sides buttered thoroughly.
A generous amout of American or cheddar cheese.
Heat pan to medium high. Place a pat of butter in the pan.
When the butter in the pan has melted, place sandwich in plan, flip once.
It’s done when the cheese is melted. Don’t over cook.
Slide sandwich on to a plate. Sometimes it’s eaiser to eat with a knife and fork.
Basic grilled cheese sandwich for me is either whole wheat bread (bonus points for Texas cut slices!) or sourdough, medium cheddar sliced thinly, and margarine on the outside of both slices (almost never have butter in the house). I usually use a sandwich maker, but sometimes a cast iron fry pan.
The key is to slice the cheddar very thinly (1/16[sup]th[/sup]" or thinner), and then use more than one layer of cheese. I find this helps it melt better. I hate it when people slice the cheese to thick, and then it doesn’t melt properly - it just gets kind of soft and greasy then.
The sandwich should be golden to brown and crispy, but not burnt at all.
I find a good easy variation is to finely dice a small clove of garlic, and spread it on the inside of the bread. Either that, or “butter” the outside with garlic butter, or a mixture of garlic butter and real butter.
Mmmmmm… garlicky grilled cheese.
Another tortilla person checking in. I prefer Chihuahua cheese on corn tortillas. Pico de gallo or Herdez brand salsa casera are optional (additional cilantro is recommended…). Also with tomato soup (made with milk) on the side. (This is what happens when Mom is Mexican but you grow up in the midwest).
Or…American cheese on Brownberry whole wheat. I have a waffle iron with plates that flip over to make it a sandwich iron (is that what you call it?). I put a little butter on the iron and grill till the sandwich is nicely browned. Again, tomato soup is an obligatory side.
I’ll eat lots of variations on these, but these are the comfort food versions.
GT
I perfected 90 second grilled cheese sammiches when I used to babysit my nephew who would eat nothing else.
Prepare to wince:
Set pan on burner, turn on med-high
Spray one side of bread with fake-butter chemspray, place in pan
Slap two slices of cheese on bread in pan
Spray one side of second bread slice, place atop melting cheese
Grab spatula and flip
Put bread, cheese and chembutter away and grab plate
Slide onto plate, taadaa!
He was three, what did he know? 
Yes! Bread and Butter Chips (I use 3) on the sandwich make the grilled cheese for me. I just slide them in after removing the sandwich from the fry pan. Extra crunchy-goodness. Yum!
I use a shredder on my cheddar before I put it on the sandwich, or slice it very thinly and then cook it slowly to a golden brown. Melts better that way.
Cheese slices are an abomination IMO. shudders I can’t stand cheese slices, cheese whiz or anything like that except on movie nachos.
I’m sure this little gem was intentional, right?
We had grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner last night. I like them the way the way I’ve always had them… you’ll think it’s weird, but try it with a little grape jelly added after it’s grilled. Very tasty! So far everyone who I’ve gotten to try it likes it, but it has to be grape jelly.
I like my grilled cheese sandwiches best when prepared this way. Take a couple of slices of buttermilk bread and butter them on both sides. Lightly butter the skillet then put the bread on it when good and hot. When the sides laying down are toasted, flip them then add a sprinkle of pepperjack cheese to both slices of bread. When the cheese is Just melting add a slice of velveeta to one slice of bread, right on top of the pepperjack then quickly smoosh them together into a sandwhich to finish the cooking/melting process. When it’s done put it on the center of a plate and smother it with homemade chili. Eat with knife and fork. Grin.
Sharp cheddar, thinly sliced tomato, Vidalia onion, and brown mustard between 2 slices of heavy whole grain bread, buttered on both sides and grilled in a medium hot iron skillet with the lid on (so the steam from the onion and tomato is captured and properly cooks the inner goodies insulated by the heavy bread) turned once.
Anyone approaching me with tomato soup risks a thwacking with the skillet.
Mmmmm… it’s 3:21 in the morning, and the family’s asleep. Methinks I’ll have one now.
I’m confused about this too. I’ve heard the phrase “makes about as much sense as a soup sandwich” before, but that’s the only time i’ve seen those words together.
Another thing that confused me as well. People are talking about grilling, and then saying they do it in a pan? Huh? In this part of the world, that my friends, is frying. I have two of these things that I like: fried cheese sandwiches (a slice of cheese between two pieces of bread buttered on the outside - other stuff like ham or tomato as available [these are snacks, remember?]), and the other one is that cousin of Welsh Rarebit known as “cheese on toast”. One slice of bread, butter, cheese, and some Worcestershire sauce. That bugger is placed under a grill. No pans to be seen.
Every time I think I understand 'merkins…
And I don’t even want to know what Velveeta is. There are woman standing by the roadside at midnight with names like that. Not something I want on my sandwich. :eek:
Sharp cheddar, 100% whole wheat, butter on the outside. Dipped in grey poupon (or any spicy brown mustard) and served with dill pickles.
It’s not cheese, it’s “Processed Cheese food”. And it’s the nastiest excuse for “food” on the planet. It’s all gloppy and slimy, and it sticks to your teeth. It has a combination of no flavor and some sort of odd attempt to be 'sharp" flavor.
Blech…BLEEEEE ECH.
It’s like plastic cheese.
Well, around here, grilling usually describes cooking above an open flame on a slatted iron surface. A griddle, on the other hand, is a heated flat metal surface, like you’d cook pancakes on. Frying is usually done in a saucepan or skillet with a good bit of oil. Broiling is cooking directly beneath a heat source. Baking is cooking in an oven, and roasting is baking uncovered.
Usually, grilled cheese sandwiches are actually cooked on a griddle. Someone might ask SamClem if there’s a chance that “grilled cheese” is a derivation of “griddled cheese”.
Cooking in an iron skillet with butter on the bread, as I do, is tantamount to griddling.
Hold me.
Thanks for that S_t_D. It looks like it’s just a terminology thing then. Our lot extends the concept of frying to nearly no oil at all (a smear of butter on the bread in this case will count), at the expense of the word “griddle” which I don’t think we use at all. Any sort of cooking on metal is frying if the metal is the heat source and there is oil/butter involved. Divided by a common language once again. I find this stuff interesting.
While we’re clarifying terminology…Is a toasted cheese sandwich cooked the same way as S_t_D describes above? (In a pan or on a griddle…?) To me, it sounds like something that would go in an oven (good also, but not the same…).
GT
I can see that. There’s a family resemblance to the Monte Cristo(*).
Naw, plastic cheese is that petroleum product you find in 7-11 to put on your stale nachos.
I had an ex-girlfriend that said this about Velveeta: “I’m suspicious of any dairy product that requires no refrigeration.”
But I love it…I gues it’s why she’s my Ex girlfriend (amongst other things)