Love a good grilled cheese. I use olive oil instead of butter on the bread and when I’m feeling fancy I use grated cheese (usually the Kraft Italian blend) and use a little trick I learned from watching Jamie Oliver. Just as the sandwich is finishing grilling I sprinkle some of the grated cheese into the pan and set the sandwich on top of it. It creates a gorgeous crispy cheese crust on the top of the sandwich. To die for!
I won’t complain if someone makes me a plain grilled cheese, but if I’m making one for myself I like it with old cheddar and a goodly smear of red pepper jelly. Homemade red pepper jelly, with a bit of heat to go along with the sweet… mmmmmm…
Butter on the bread, on the outside only. Melting it in the pan first is just wrong. Though I admit to being tempted when the butter was cold and the bread was soft, I just couldn’t do it.
Whole wheat bread and either cheddar or American cheese for me, please; three slices of bacon are a particularly welcome addition. Definitely better to grate the cheese. It melts more quickly and goo-ily that way. Lightly buttering the exterior of each side of the bread also results in a nice, crispy texture.
When there’s nothing in the house and I want a quick bite, it’s white bread with Kraft singles fried in butter. When it’s planned for dinner it’s Swiss and sharp cheddar on whichever bread I’m in the mood for, sometimes with ham in the middle. Always with Campbells tomato soup.
Succumb to temptation. I haven’t noticed any difference in the two methods (if anything, the butter-in-pan method provides more thorough coverage.) To me, it’s like buttering your steak or whatnot before putting it into the pan instead of vice versa. I mean, yeah, sure, it’ll work, but why do it that way?
Buttered bread, slice of cheese,** spread some mustard on the cheese**, then add the other piece of buttered bread. Throw it on the pan, grill it and enjoy.
Mmmmmm.
Yeah, last night I melted the butter in the pan, just like I always do. Just checking to see if buttering the sandwich was a Miracle Trick for a perfect grilled cheese.
A little TOO toasty on side one. I don’t know why people call this a “quick treat.” It takes a good 15 minutes in the pan, and you have to regulate the heat carefully to get the bread perfectly golden yet not too brown, and the cheese melted but not oozing out all over the pan.
Literature/Grilled Cheese fans should check out Samuel Beckett’s “Dante and the Lobster,” the first story in the collection MORE PRICKS THAN KICKS. Belacqua Shuah, Beckett’s first protagonist, prepares toast and purchases Gorgonzola cheese for his lunch. One of my favorite short stories ever.
http://www.evergreenreview.com/dante-and-the-lobster-samuel-beckett/
I need to re-read that. I was on a huge Beckett kick 20 years ago in college, and I read through all of “More Pricks Than Kicks,” but have no memory of anything. Hell, I still may even have the book in a box somewhere.
One of the best literary depictions of carefully preparing a simple meal and enjoying it to the utmost. Even if it’s only black burned toast with mustard and a slab of stenching rotten blue cheese.
Hard to believe the young Beckett was so…sensual.
Strange when I make it it takes about five minutes. Think having a gas stove makes a difference? Maybe use a smaller pan?
I use a cheap induction hot plate style burner from Walmart and 5 minutes is about right. I learned from this very board that the reason I was making bad GC was cause I was using margarine. Switched to butter and wah lah.
Yep. I just made it myself this morning, and it took about 6 minutes of cooking time. I have a gas stove, and do it over heat that is medium-to-medium-high, about 6–7/10. But I tend to use easy melty cheese like Kraft singles, although today I used brick cheese and it still was about right.
Seconded. This is one of the things Mom bequeathed to me, along with sardines mashed with plenty of yellow mustard, eaten on saltines.