With cooler temperatures outside come the comfort-food cravings and nothing says comfort like a grilled cheese sandwich.
While most of us consider the grilled cheese a pretty simple meal — made even better with a side of tomato soup — cheese master and author of Grilled Cheese, Please! Laura Werlin is concerned we’re doing it all wrong.
Some of Werlin’s critiques from her Food & Wine article “How to Ruin a Grilled Cheese” are listed below:
Ruin grilled cheese: Screw up the bread-to-cheese ratio
Werlin insists there should be a 50-50 ratio of cheese-to-bread. Too much bread will prevent the sandwich from being crispy. Too little cheese is... pointless.
Ruin grilled cheese: Slice the cheese
Don’t slice it, grate it. Use the large holes of the box grater to grate your cheese, then cover your bread — to the edges — with the grated cheese. It will melt before bread starts to burn.
Ruin grilled cheese: Butter the pan
Buttering the pan instead of the bread will only result in uneven browning. Preheat a nonstick skillet for two minutes before placing your sandwich, its outside-facing slices buttered with room-temperature bread, onto the pan. Your sandwich will be gooey on the inside and crisp on the outside. Perfect.
Good Housekeeping suggests mixing up your technique a little by grilling your sandwich in a waffle iron or panini press.
Once you’ve mastered the grilled cheese — maybe you already have — the options for gourmet additions are endless. Swap out white bread for a healthier, heartier loaf. Add vegetables, sliced meats, or try different cheeses.
Not sure where to start? Try the Southwestern Cheese Panini as a healthy, flavourful variation of the grilled cheese.
How do you make the perfect grilled cheese?
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