Grilled Cheese – The Ultimate Comfort Food

There are certain culinary delights that are very comforting. Melted cheese has to fall into that category. One of the primary ways we enjoy melted cheese is in the form of a Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Everyone has their own way of making these. Is one way better than another? Let’s dive into this topic in this Cooking Tip.

There are three basic components of a grilled cheese sandwich – bread, cheese and a spread. Many will include a fourth and that is add-ins. Your choice of each of these will affect the resulting sandwich.

Bread

The classic bread choice is just white sandwich bread. Others feel you need something with a bit more flavor. Two principles that most agree with are:

• Use something with a tight crumb so the cheese doesn’t leak out. You do not want bread with lots of air bubbles.
• You want a good bread-to-cheese ratio so do not use very thick slices of bread. Aim for about a half inch.

Cheese

The most important characteristic of the cheese is that it should melt good. Within the category of melting cheeses, there are several choices.

• Young cheddar (under one year)
• Monterey Jack
• Young Gouda (under one year)
• Young Swiss-style cheeses (under one year)
• American
• Brie

Harder, aged cheeses may have tremendous flavor but they do not melt well. America’s Test Kitchen offers an approach whereby you can use these cheeses. They combine the hard cheese with a smaller amount of a great melting cheese such as Brie in a food processor to make a paste. They also recommend adding a tablespoon or two of wine or vermouth to aid in emulsifying and to add flavor.

Experts disagree on the form of the cheese for the best sandwich.

• Some recommend shredding the cheese as you can get good coverage with easy melting, The downside is that this method can be messy.
• Sliced cheese will work as long as you get slices of uniform thickness so it melts evenly.
• Some like to use a Y-shaped veggie peeler, which gives you thin and even slices.

Spread

There seems to be two camps on the issue of which spread to use. There is the butter camp and the mayo camp.

Butter

• Pros – excellent flavor.
• Cons
  • Needs to be softened.
  • Has a low smoke point.

Mayo

• Pros
  • Do not have to soften.
  • It has a higher smoke point than butter.
  • Adds a tangy flavor element.
• Cons
  • Many do not like the flavor.
  • Does not crisp as well as butter.

Combination

• Some experts like to use a combination of softened butter and mayonnaise. They feel this results in great browning without this happening so quickly that the cheese doesn’t have time to melt. The flavor is described as multi-dimensional.
• Everyone recommends staying away from low-fat mayonnaise as it results in uneven browning.

Add Ins & Variations

A great grilled cheese sandwich needs nothing more than the above elements. However, you may also want to experiment a bit.

• Bread – vary the type of bread keeping the above cautions in mind.
• Cheese – vary the type of cheese.
• Add Ins – just do an online search and you will come up with very interesting recipes. There are even entire cookbooks devoted to this dish. Here is just a very short list to get you started.
  • Herbs
  • Caramelized Onions
  • Bacon or Ham
  • Apples
  • Jam

Method of cooking

There are some areas of agreement but other areas of disagreement. Here are the different methods.

Stove-top

• Preheating the pan over med-high heat for a couple of minutes and then lowering the heat to medium-low is the preferred cooking method. Cook until browned, flip and continue to cook until the other side is brown and the cheese is melted.
• Some like to put the butter in the pan while others say to butter the bread, not the pan. Proponents of both methods claim that it leads to better and more browning.

Oven

• If you need to cook for a crowd, place your prepared sandwiches on a rimmed baking sheet in a 450°F oven, flipping half-way through.

Panini press

• If you have access to a panini press, this method will give you the best crispy sear.

Air Fryer

• Some have tested using an air fryer. It will work but it takes longer and the bread is more toasted than grilled

Serious Eats Stove Top Method

• This method involves griddling both sides of the bread.
• To do this, melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the bread and cook until that side is evenly browned. Remove the bread and place on a work surface, toasted side up. Add the cheese and close the sandwich with both toasted sides facing inward. Add more butter to skillet, lower the heat to med-low and cook the sandwich until golden on the bottom. Remove the sandwich from the skillet. Add more butter and return the sandwich to the pan, toasted side up. Cook until the second side is golden brown and the cheese is melted.

If you are a really serious grilled cheese eater, you may agree with America’s Test Kitchen. They bemoan the fact that the wonderfully crisp sandwich can get soggy as soon as you place it on a plate. So, they place two chopsticks on the plate and the sandwich on top.

In my book, two slices of bread encasing meted cheese is a winner. However, with the expert tips above, you might be able to take this humble sandwich and elevate it even more.