As someone who's more often snobby about her cheese than not, it's never been hard to admonish the admitted lovers of American cheese. Like, Kraft singles American cheese.
So imagine my inner-conflict when yesterday, I became a convert.
Have you eaten the famed Corner Bistro burger in Manhattan's West Village? It'd make anyone reconsider her previous opinion about the bistro's cheese of choice. There was something just right about the meltability of that eponymous American single. It stuck to the roof of my mouth and lingered like most cheese can't. Or at least shouldn't. And it was satisfying.
Somehow, when melted, in conjunction with the meatiness of the burger and the salty crunch of bacon, it played its part just right. Lurkingly mild, pretty freaking creamy, and more textural than anything else, the cheese had gumption, as if given some powerful voice by its uber-manufactured industrial-ness.
I can't wax too profoundly about the merits of the cheese, but the experience couldn't help but make me wonder if there truly is a time and a place for everything, even for the one cheese that stands at the epitomal symbol of what I've always thought was most wrong about cheese in America.
How about you? Do you think that a burger could be the one vehicle that lets the Single sing?
Nora Singley is an avid lover of cheese, and for some time she was a Cheesemonger and the Director of the Cheese Course at Murray's Cheese Shop in New York City. She is currently an assistant chef on The Martha Stewart Show.
Related: In Praise of American Cheese
(Image: Flickr member roboppy licensed under Creative Commons)
How to Bake a Potato: Three Easy Methods
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Straw Mat from The ...
10 No-Fail Decor Tricks & Tips for Small Spaces
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
I prefer american on my burgers too. They also make the BEST grilled cheese sandwiches.
I prefer American singles on simple homemade grilled cheese sandwiches over any other kind of cheese, and I'm pretty much opposed to it almost anywhere else (except burgers).
I like singles on burgers, but Corner Bistro is just plain good no matter how much of a cheese snob one might be!
I like american cheese on burgers, grilled cheese, and above all eggs. In fact I don't ever call it American cheese, I always refer to it as Egg Cheese. But other that those three circumstances I don't really have a use for it.
They're pretty good for grilled cheese, too.
I prefer deli American...more actual cheese content. However, I had a burger in Baltimore at Elevation Burger with cheddar on it and I really loved the way that flavor worked.
I'm a lover of all good cheeses, too. I surprised myself a couple of years ago when I tried Kraft singles and loved them! My very favorite way to eat them is between 2 slices of toasted sourdough bread. Yum!
I agree with @lehottomato -- burgers, grilled cheese, and eggs are where american shines.
Have you ever had a Jucy Lucy? It's a hamburger with a pocket of american cheese melted in the middle of two patties that have been crimped together around the edges. American Cheese burger perfection!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jucy_Lucy
I also like singles for grilled cheese, to be served with tomato soup.
They're really good for cheese grits too, y'all! Tear a slice (or two) into small pieces in the bottom of your bowl and top with grits and butter. Stir and enjoy!
I've never heard anyone say that American cheese had gumption. Or, for that matter, bothered to wax on the merits of its "freaking cream[iness]" perfectly pairing with the "meatiness of the burger and the salty crunch of bacon". Come on. At some point you just gotta sit back and realize you're eating the same thing that a trillion people before you have eaten and just simply enjoyed.
I consider myself to be a pretty big beer snob so I understand the merits of profound observation. But like you said, there is a time and a place for everything, and the American slice indeed does not need to be, dare I say, intellectually digested. Just eat the burger and enjoy the yellow ooze with the rest of us plebes.
Yup. In fact, this summer I finally gave in and stopped trying to pretend I preferred greasily-melted cheddar on a burger. I'd never bought American Cheese before, but I've proudly got a packet living out its extremely long shelf-life in my fridge now, getting used 2 slices at a time as we make burgers!
Hmmm...being in New Zealand I've never had or seen American Cheese. Anyone know if we have an equivalent?
Buda - I'm not actually sure. I'm in Aus now, originally from the UK. In the UK there's definitely an equivalent, but I haven't bought it since I left there, because I haven't made burgers at home over here (should get around to that actually). I've just had a quick look at the Coles website here, and there seem to be plenty of cheese slice options, but I'm not sure if they're the same thing, they look too much like proper cheddar/Tasty - the "American cheese" that you get in the UK comes as individually wrapped slices in a pack; the slices are kind of plasticky, and peel off the wrappers in a way that normal cheese doesn't; it's also not cheddar/Tasty coloured - it's a sort of radioactive orangey-yellow. But for a good burger, especially a really greasy one at the end of a night or to cure a hangover (with a fried egg in too, if it's a hangover burger), it's perfect! No point using good cheddar when the flavour gets lost and it doesn't work so well. Having said which, I'm perfectly fine with putting good blue cheese into burgers - with a bit of something like redcurrant or cranberry, it's the perfect way to use up blues that are a bit beyond their best.
I was always excited when my elementary class was going on a field trip - the only time I ever got to eat a Lunchable, and I loved the turkey with American cheese version. I'd also always get American on my hogie from Wawa. And as much as I hate to admit it, I do enjoy a Kraft Single on a sandwich made out of cheap white bread and pickles every once in a while.
hi, Buda - in NZ, bega slices (the individually wrapped ones) are pretty close to american cheese - or anything called (and I'm not kidding) "processed cheese product."
When I was little, we called it barbie cheese because it's well, like plastic. I loved it though, and was often too lazy to make a proper grilled cheese and would instead microwave a piece of white bread with a slice of american cheese on top, fold it over, and burn my mouth eating it. The horror.
CBrown9758, I must disagree with you - you may have made grits with cheese, but "proper" cheese grits are like a souffle of delicious goodness - these are pretty good: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Baked-Cheese-Grits-232704.
MMMM CORNER BISTRO. I love that they were the ones to convert you. Soooo good it's ok.
Certain burgers just call for the American cheese slice. Corner Bistro burgers are an example. Shake Shack's are another. They may be revered burgers, but they're still bar/park food, more along the lines of fast food than some of the other talked-up burgers out there, which is why it fits, I think. I wouldn't want an American Cheese slice on my $30 DBbistro burger, but then, I wouldn't want foie gras in my Corner Bistro patty, either.
American cheese doesn't have to be Kraft processed, cheese food singles. You can get American cheese which is cheese rather than cheese food, and it is delicious. Same taste but without the processed waxiness. Look in the deli section of any grocery store, or go to Whole Foods.
As other NZers and Aussies have said, we don't really have much like American cheese- Bega and Kraft slices are the only thing similar- it's always disgusted me as it feels and moves like flexible plastic (ick) but its redeeming feature is when I put it on an English muffin with a fried egg and it goes all gooey-yum! For burgers I slice quality cheddar and put them on the burger for the last few minutes of cooking- the cheese melts and its gorgeous!
I despise American cheese (well the Kraft singles, which is what everyone who uses American uses). I would rather have a cheese-less burger or sandwich than let that atrocity anywhere near my taste buds. It has a terrible texture which is to say nothing about the absolutely revolting taste. I imagine it's rather like eating plastic. Honestly. Anything processed that much is disgusting. If I want a mild cheese I would just get Monterey Jack or Mozzarella.