Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Best Thing I Ever Ate: Comfort Food #2 - Grilled Cheese

This post is the second in a series I'm calling “Best Thing I Ever Ate, after one of my many beloved cooking shows. My first category was comfort food, and I talked about Jenocide's Favorite and gave the recipe. 

When I first started blogging, I wrote an Ode to Grilled Cheese and gave some of my secrets for making the perfect grilled cheese sandwich. Since that post, I've figured out an even easier, quicker and MORE delicious way to grill it. What can I say, I like tinkering in the kitchen. So get comfy and pretend you're watching a cooking show ;-)

Welcome to Tina's Best Thing I Ever Ate! Today the category is still comfort food, and the topic is grilled cheese. We are making a simple grilled cheese sandwich to help you beginners get started on the wonderful road of gourmet grilled cheese.

First I will start browning some butter in my pan while I assemble the sandwich. Today I'm using English muffin bread because it's solid and has a slight sourdough taste, which I love. I'm putting on a slice of provolone, which is a cheese similar to Swiss, but with a bit more of bite and tang, and a slightly nuttier profile. It pairs well with this beautiful roast beef I'm adding. Last is another slice of cheese, and we're ready for the microwave. 45 seconds.

Surprised? Microwave? Buttering the pan and not the bread? Let me tell you why. Cold butter is hard to spread (and as you know from watching my show, we only use real butter, none of that syntho-crap that IS easy to spread), and it takes too long to melt the cheese, on medium low, so as not to burn the outside before the inside is melted. If you already melt the inside, and put it in a hot pan with melted butter, you're done in about ¼ of the normal time.

So as you see my butter is now nicely browned. Smells delicious! A chemical change occurs as it browns and the taste is AMAZING. I now place my melted hot sandwich in the pan. Oh, hear that delightful sizzle.

When your pan starts to look like this around the edges, it's probably time to flip your sandwich. 

(yes, it's already flipped...I didn't decide to make a post until I got to this point and then there was no turning back.  This isn't a REAL cooking show...I'm just an amateur!)

(Don't worry, it's supposed to look just like that. It's called browned butter because it's...brown.)

So we're going to flip, as I was saying, but wait! Just hold it on the spatula and throw just a titch (Technical info: a titch is about a ¼ of a pat of butter. I know you've always wondered!) in the pan, it will melt and sizzle and brown instantly. Now flip and cook the other side.




Slice and serve. Ooey, gooey, cheesy, melty goodness with some perfect roast beast. What could be better? We'll see you next time when I share about another delicious “Best Thing I Ever Ate.”

~Tina


P.S If you want to learn more about my grilled cheese making ideas, read that other post. Just cook it this new way. You'll be amazed how fast it is.

19 comments:

D.G. Hudson said...

Guess what, Tina, my hubs makes grilled cheese that way, too. It's a much healthier way, and uses a bit less butter (of course that's adjustable).
And, thanks for that definition of 'titch'.

Unknown said...

I have a confession to make...
My first attempt at making a grilled cheese was taking the slices of bread placing cheese in between, then putting it in the toaster on dark toast. After that fiasco my wife then decided it was time to teach me the correct way to do it.

Unknown said...

I love tomato soup with grilled cheese, but I am pretty adept at cooking, so I experiment with the gourmet blends...different breads, cheeses, meats, etc. YUM. Perfect comfort food.

M.L. Swift, Writer

Anonymous said...

Oh, it looks so yummy! I'm a big fan of provolone…just couldn't help but giggle at your cooking show idea here :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I bet it's tasty!
We use that low fat butter spray and mozzerella cheese. You probably wouldn't like ours.

Crystal Collier said...

Well it's cheese. Of course it's amazing. ;) Now if you sear some Parmesan onto the bread and then fill it with your choice of tastiness, it gets even better. =)

Andrew Leon said...

I already make the best grilled cheese ever, but you can't make it, because it involves using the bread my wife makes.

Jo said...

Sounds good, don't think I have ever eaten a grilled cheese sandwich. Definitely never made one.

Jo said...

Sounds good, don't think I have ever eaten a grilled cheese sandwich. Definitely never made one.

Michelle Wallace said...

Looks and sounds delicious... bet it tastes delicious too. And healthy. A win-win situation!
Writer In Transit

JoJo said...

That's pretty much the way I make it too, by putting the butter in the pan then the sandwich and it's been working out well. I like a little mustard on it if I'm making grilled swiss, but usually I make it with American cheese.

Vanessa Morgan said...

Grilled cheese is the best, especially saganaki and halloumi.

Lucy said...

Oh, my that sounds and looks so yummy :)

Brian Miller said...

yum...grilled cheese is like hte ultimate comfort food....now a little soup to go with it...smiles.

Annalisa Crawford said...

Looks gorgeous, unfortunately I can't eat grilled cheese :-(

My favourite comfort food: mashed potato, omelette and lashing and lashings of ketchup!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Tina .. sounds delicious - I don't use a microwave .. never have done .. but I'd find a way round. I always use butter .. and cheese - a tasty one is essential ..

Though I'd hate to add to the mix .. my favourite of my youth and middle years and one I try and avoid now - having no bread in the house helps! - is to add some marmite - yummy!!! Definitely time for two ...

On the other hand this could be a hate marmite blog!

Cheers to you .. Hilary

klahanie said...

Cheese and thank you for this. What a "grate" idea. This was a grilling posting.

And with that, cheese release me, I must go back to my site....

Gart :)

Briane said...

OH.

MY.

GOD.

I ate lunch just MOMENTS before eating this and I am hungrier than ever.

First off, I went back and read your "Ode To Grilled Cheese," because you and I are kindred spirits on these things -- I'm writing an epic poem about McDonald's Cheeseburgers -- seriously-- and I wanted to see it, and I don't even know what "Jarlsberg" is but I have to try that kind of grilled cheese sandwich.

Today I am helping Sweetie grocery shop and I am GETTING SOME OF IT.

Secondly, I never even thought of putting the butter in the pan or softening the cheese first. Is "Supergenius" too strong of a word to apply to you based on this? I think not.

You are a SUPERGENIUS.

(PS like your mom I forget about grilled cheese sandwiches, too, and when I make them for Sweetie I end up eating the burnt one, because my method is "Cook the first one, burn it, pay more attention the second time around, give her the good one." But I like your method better.)

Intangible Hearts said...

I like to add sliced jalapenos. Ole!