Pulling Apart Grilled Cheese
Why does grilled cheese never involve a grill? When does a grilled cheese stop being a grilled cheese? What's the top rated cheese and bread? Mayo or Butter?
But First, Nostalgia...
Grilled cheese happens to be one of those rare dishes one should perhaps make worse for good reasons. At times people eat for comfort or simplicity at the expense of flavor or time, grilled cheese illustrates this.
Most grilled cheese is arguably consumed by those under the age of twelve, thus it would be wise to know your audience before taking any of the advice herein. For those who are looking for a piece of their childhood or are a child — then stick to wonder bread, american cheese and butter or something more colorful and don't bother reading on.
Recommended Recipes
But wait... What makes a grilled cheese?
This is actually a bit more of a complicated question. If one sticks to standard definition of it then panini's, melts and perhaps all hot sandwiches with cheese would fall into the "grilled cheese" category.
What happens to a grilled cheese if we add ham? Is it still a grilled cheese, or did it just cross the line and become a ham and cheese that's grilled griddled? To help add clarity to what is and isn't a grilled cheese, try this litmus test.
- The main item in the sandwich isn't the cheese, then it's no longer a grilled cheese.
- The sandwich is just an excuse for too much cheese, then it's a grilled cheese.
- The grilled cheese has enough ingredients to warrant a lengthy recipe, then it's not a grilled cheese.
The Cheese
Lets start with the controversial finding—american cheese did poorly. I mean, really poorly. It was somewhat surprising to the extent in which american cheese performed so poorly but perhaps the internet can speculate as to the reasons.
So which cheese performed best? Gruyère, pretty hands down did best. Provolone and pepper jack also scored very high as well. As for the "good not great" cheeses included monterey jack, goat cheese and mozzarella. The "ok, sure but your mileage may vary" cheeses include swiss, brie, fontina and the darling of the english countryside, cheddar. Finally, for the "cheeses to avoid" category include american, cream cheese, parmesan and feta.
The Bread
While sourdough, wheat and white bread all did well, wheat came out on top with sourdough in a close second and white bread last. One bread which did not perform well was Brioche, perhaps an enriched bread such as this is just too decadent.
The Fat
The clear winner is butter, mayonnaise didn't do poorly mind you, it did just ok, but butter did great. Note that olive oil appears on our recipe breakdown but it was usually for sautéing ingredients to add to the grilled cheese, except for vegan grilled cheese.
Additions & Variations
| Great | Good | Ok | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
An Artificial Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 slices of sourdough bread
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 2 slices of sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 slices of Monterey Jack cheese
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Instructions
- Preheat a skillet over medium low heat.
- Spread the softened butter evenly on one side of each slice of bread.
- Place one slice of bread, buttered side down, on the skillet. Top with the slices of cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese.
- Spread the mayonnaise evenly on the other slice of bread, and place it on top of the cheese, buttered side up.
- Cook the sandwich until the cheese is melted and the bread is golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side.
- Serve warm and enjoy!
Tips
- If using mayo for the fat, avoid miracle whip as the sugar in it burns too quickly.
- Cook the grilled cheese on a low heat, the more cheese & additions, the lower the heat.
- After cooking, cool the grilled cheese on a wire rack, the bottom will be soggy if placed on a plate.
Explore the Data
Low Rating
High Rating