Campbells Tomato soup definitly , it seems wrong to not have the soup.
Good sharp cheddar, yes. I can’t stand boring cheese.
Slice of good am optional, also optional is a smear of Major Grey’s Chutney or good grainy mustard.
Butter the outside of the bread, fry in dry pan gently until golden on both sides. Start with covering the pan to steam it lightly to melt the cheese, then uncover to brown both sides.
I wish I coul dmanage to eat them more than a couple times a year - I am in the fabulous Fs* for gallbladder issues, and diabetic so I watch what I eat very carefully.
Though I had 2 stillborns, and am not really flatulant unless I eat beans, onions or dairy:smack:
My go-to soup with grilled cheese (and I agree it’s recommended, though not mandatory, to have soup) has become:
Not really trying to be snobby – it turns out Puck’s soup is in fact made by Campbells – but it just seems a bit more savory (less sweet?) than the red and white label variety.
Warm the cheese up first. Room-temperature cheese will melt faster and better.
Butter in the pan, not too much. Lightly butter ONE of the pieces of bread. When you put the sandwich in the pan, the unbuttered slice goes on the bottom, soaking up the buttery goodness from the pan and turning golden brown and delicious. Then, flip it so that the buttered slice is down in the now-dry pan. It, too, will turn GB&D. Cut if you want, eat and enjoy.
I find that this strikes a balance between, “Hey, my bread is all flat and soggy from too much butter!” and, “There’s not enough butter on the second piece!”
I think it needs to be stressed that a grilled cheese sandwich only has three ingredients: bread, cheese, and butter (or margarine if you prefer). Adding other ingredients may make for a dandy sandwich,but it’s not a grilled cheese sandwich.
Pre-build the sandwich (two slices of bread, enough cheese in a single, thick layer to cover the bread, tomatoes if desired). Butter a cast-iron skillet (medium-low heat) until melted, then add the sandwich. Place a plate atop the sandwich, and put a weight on the plate (I usually use several cans of beans or soup). Cook on one side for 3 minutes, then remove the sandwich, re-butter the skillet, and cook the other side of the sandwich for about 1.5 minutes (with plate/weights as well). Remove sandwich and enjoy.
I got this recipe from the cookbook “How to Cook Anything” and it has served me very well.
Butter the pan.
Drop two slices of bread in the pan.
Toast one side.
Pull the half-toasted bread out of the pan.
Add more butter.
Insert cheese between two slices of bread, toasted sides together.
Pop sammich back into hot pan with newly melted butter.
Flip, toast the other side.
Serve with tomato soup.
Absolutely no tomatoes on a grilled cheese for me. I love tomatoes, but not here. My cheese of choice tends to be muenster or even plain ol’ Kraft singles. Also, gimme the plain white Wonder-style bread. This is comfort food. I usually melt butter in the pan, fry one side, then stick some more butter in the pan, and fry the other side. However, I’ve been quite happy with a method I learned here on the Dope: put a thin coating of mayo on the outside of the sandwich before you fry it. This works surprisingly well, too, although you don’t get that butter flavor.
If I want something a little more gussied up, then I’ll go for a croque monsieur or a croque madame, but, for me, a grilled cheese is the above. Nothing more. Nothing less.
The Parm-on-the-outside recipe might have been me; I know I’ve mentioned it here before as part of the “Triple grilled cheese” I used to get at some restaurant and adopted. It has cheddar ans a good Swiss inside, and the Parmesan sprinkled or pre-mixed out where it will crisp up.
Also re the crispy bits: Shred enough cheese for a sandwich, spread in a cast-iron pan to the size of your bread, and drop one slice on top. When the cheese is crisp, flip it over to brown the bread. If you want, you can claim it’s low-cal because it only has half the bread. Or maybe go back for seconds.
Same here, though on a GF grill I use a lot less butter than on the frying pan.
Alternate no-butter-required version: lightly toast a split English muffin; top each half with sharp cheddar, jack, and/or mozzarella and sprinkle lightly with garlic powder (NOT garlic salt!); broil until cheese bubbles and begins to brown.
For the method: Butter both sides of the sandwich, flip halfway through.
For the ingredients: Cheddar and a sprinkling of rosemary. Sometimes I’ll add pickles or tomato, but if tomatoes are in season, I’m more likely to just make a tomato sandwich.
And for an abomination the OP didn’t mention, in crowded cafeterias they’ll often fry the sandwich open, with the cheese on one half and both slices of bread on the grill at once, then assemble it as it’s taken off the grill. The problem is that the cheese only gets heated half as long this way, and doesn’t get properly melty.
Oat/multigrain bread, tomatoes and that fake Kraft singles “cheese”. I’m not keen on grilled cheese sandwiches unless they’re made with that crap fake cheese.
I haven’t been wasted in a long time, but this was my go-to I’m carbing-off-the-alcohol diner order in my 20s. Along with a side of fries and diet coke or diner coffee, of course.
I generally use cooking spray rather than butter. Then again, my current cooking spray is butter flavored.
I’ve also made grilled cheese in a toaster–with a little bit of fire insurance. I don’t know why they haven’t caught on, so I trumpet those from the rooftops.
Two slices of cheese (1 slice each of 2 of the following, depending on your mood: American, Velveeta, Cheddar, Swiss, Monterrey or Pepper Jack, Gruyere); insert between two slices of lightly toasted sourdough or Mountain bread; butter the outside of the top slice of toast; place sandwich bottom-side down in an iron skillet coated with sizzling real butter and Lawry’s Garlic Salt (wait till garlic salt begins to brown); smoosh lightly with spatula before flipping ; serve with Campbell’s Tomato soup or red curry bisque and a glass of ’04 or ’05 Duckhorn Merlot. When using a high melting-point cheese and thick sliced bread,pre-melt in microwave on high (1000-watt oven) for 12 seconds.
…and do not bastardize this classic American sandwich by inserting any non-cheese ingredient between the bread (except perhaps a thin layer of black truffles), because that would be both gauche and pretentious.
YUMMY!!!