The Way To Make The Perfect Grilled Cheese

I don't even care anymore.  Fight me.  My grilled cheese is the best.

The. Best.

You'd think it would be easy to make a great grilled cheese sammitch, and you would never know just how insanely wrong you are.  How many times have we all collectively just... settled for an inferior grilled cheese sandwich?  Sure, the corners are a little crispy, but the middle is soggy and greasy.  You know it could be better, but it's still okay.

NO MORE.

Today, friends, we are going to explore my grilled cheese experience.  First of all, you need to assemble your ingredients.

In my preference, plain old sandwich bread is fine, but if you can get a nice Italian loaf it's better.  You need a strong bread that will hold up to the butter/cheese onslaught.

So you've got your bread of choice, your butter (preferably room temperature, after all you don't want to be trying to rub cold butter on your bread.  You're going to get breakage. But whatever you've got works.) your choice of cheese, and your pan.

Now if you're going to make a Perfect Grilled Cheese,  I need to break it to you - you  need more than one kind of cheese, and one of those cheeses has to be real.  Not cheese product. However, one of those DOES have to be cheese product. So grab you a slice of good ol American cheese and maybe a slice of real cheddar. It's always little better to get them out a few minutes before you start cooking so they come up to temperature a little bit. You get better meltage that way. The american melts quicker, and that brings out the nice string effect in the real cheese.

What I recommend is using a cast iron pan.  You gotta get it good and hot. If you execute right, you'll get a perfect crisp with a cast iron.  Not everybody has one, though, so just do what you can to get your pan hot.

So you've got your pan on the stove, you've got your ingredients, it's time to assemble.  You have to butter your pieces of bread, obviously, but you have to butter all the way to the corners or you're just playing yourself.  The next step may be controversial, but... well, I'm willing to defend it.  I sprinkle a little salt and pepper on my buttered bread. Seasoning is always good if you don't over do it.

I leave the bread butter side up on my cooking surface and assemble in the pan.  After all, you never want a "butter side down" situation to happen. I put down the fake cheese first, then the real cheese, then the other piece of bread.  You have to be very careful here so you don't get a burn, so you don't get stuck on the bottom of the pan, or any other number of grilled cheese related nightmares.  On my stove, a good minute in is the first flip.

When I get to a good crispiness on both sides, I take my sammitch and place it on a paper towel.  Yes, you want a minute to just that little bit of greasiness out. Let it sit for a second on both sides and then you should be good.

I have no dog in the fight when it comes to the question of whether one should slice diagonally or horizontally.  My Mom used to cut horizontal, but as an adult now I tend to choose diagonal.

And now, we know.  The Perfect Grilled Cheese.  Use the information wisely, for good. Or, flip the script like I do from time to time and use this said recipe.......for cheese quesadillas.  Everything is the same, but the bread is a tortilla instead! Genius, right?

Cheesily yours,
Behka