Comfort Food: The humble grilled cheese sandwich.

Crispy, buttery, melty, delicious.

The grilled cheese (a.k.a. cheese toastie) has been around since ancient cooks discovered the bliss of bread + cheese + fire = YUM! For decades, the classic processed yellow “cheese” melting between good ol’ white bread has pleased the palates and the tummies of innumerable American citizens, but with the explosive interest in “gourmet” versions of everything and the discovery and fusion of international cuisine, today’s “grilled cheese” is limited only by imagination.

Lynne Olver’s account of grilled cheese history indicates that the modern American grilled cheese got its start in the 1920’s when advances in industrial food processing gave homemakers access to pre-sliced bread and American style “cheddar.” She cites the appearance of precursor recipes for grilled or broiled cheese on bread in cookbooks starting in 1902. I’m very keen on finding the recipe for “Cheese Dreams” made in a chafing dish . . . the name alone makes my mouth water. My Daddy, who served in the US Navy, very likely chowed down on government issue “American cheese filling sandwiches” in the ship’s mess during his tour of duty. In my house, we often had cheese toast (broiled open face) for breakfast, but true grilled cheese was lunchtime fare accompanied by Campbell’s Tomato Soup (or occasionally Chicken Noodle).

Yellow Mustard on White Bread

Making a good grilled cheese sandwich relies on technique. Proper toasting (without burning) and adequate melting requires a bit of care, though I’m pretty sure a monkey could make one.

For the simplest pleasure, choose a thick sliced, soft white bread. Apply decorative French’s Yellow Mustard (I prefer a big wiggly line or a smiley face) to one slice and set aside.

Toss a dab of butter* in a frying pan on medium low heat. Place a plain slice of bread in the pan and top with a slice (or two) of processed yellow cheese.

Two sandwich bottoms, grilling happily.

I like to put a lid on the pan for a little while, so the cheese melts better. When the bottom is a lovely shade of brown and the cheese starts to soften, put the mustard bread slice on top (mustard side down, please), lift up the sandwich with a spatula, toss a piece of butter in the pan to melt and flip the sandwich untoasted side down. Grill another couple of minutes until golden and crisp.

Cut the sandwich into pointy triangles or skinny rectangles for dipping into creamy tomato soup.

Grilled cheese sandwiches take additional ingredients quite well (e.g. sliced tomato, ham, crisp bacon). However, I find that sometimes extra fillings prevent adequate melting, and it’s so disappointing to have a perfectly grilled sandwich that is cold in the middle. You may have to adjust your technique (or make sure the fillings are already hot or room temp) to get better results.

*Note: I don’t butter each slice of bread before grilling for two reasons:  my butter is always too cold to spread, and I find I use less butter if I just melt a bit in the pan.

Close Relatives of the Grilled Cheese:

• croque monsieur: grilled swiss or gruyere cheese with ham
• croque madame: a croque monsieur with an egg on top
• monte cristo: a grilled ham & cheese made like french toast (egg battered and fried)
• quesadilla: a tortilla topped with cheese, folded in half, and pan fried