What's complicated about a grilled cheese sandwich? Nothing, especially. But, like all culinary classics, one wrong step and your sandwich is toast (so to speak). Pass this along to your friends, your husband, and your kids because life is too short for a bad grilled cheese!
Food & Wine tackled some of the basic don'ts for grilled cheese, including a proper bread to cheese ratio and buttering the bread before placing the sandwich in the pan, along with one tip involving shredded cheese that is just plain messy (ever try flipping a sandwich with shredded cheese?). Here are several additional tips for avoiding grilled cheese disaster:
• Use a lid: If you've ever watched a grill cook make a grilled cheese you've seen the lid they place over the sandwich. Covering the pan helps melt the cheese before the bread burns.
• Choose your cheese wisely: American cheese may be the classic, however, using a cheese with more flavor will make for a tasty grilled cheese. Avoid very mild cheeses unless you plan on adding condiments or other fixings (such as mozzarella paired with tomato, and basil).
• Transfer to a rack: Unless you're serving straight from the pan, let the grilled cheese sit on a rack rather than a plate, where the bread will steam and lose its grilled crispness.
• Switch up the bread: Just because you grew up on Wonderbread and American cheese doesn't mean you have to stick with it! Try using English muffins, cinnamon raisin bread, or rosemary focaccia.
What are your favorite tips for stellar grilled cheese?
• Read more: How to Ruin a Grilled Cheese at Food & Wine
Related: Salty and Sweet: Grilled Cheese on Raisin Bread
(Images: Flickr user Maggie Hoffman licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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Another nice tip...slather the outside with mayonnaise rather than butter. It's amazing.
yes on the mayo! also helps with the whole cold butter ripping apart my bread when i try to spread it problem. i thought i'd miss the butter flavor but it's.... even better?
another tip - if yr making a grilled cheese and tomato, try pan frying the tomato slices first in a smidge of olive oil. then add them to the grilled cheese after you've cooked it. so good, and no soggy mess.
The mayo thing must be a personal preference. I tried it once it found it disgusting, and the bread burnt before the cheese melted which never happens to me with butter. I also find that you shouldn't butter the bread at all, you should get the pan hot, and then melt the butter in the pan before grilling your sandwich.
Dijon mustard in with the cheese. Amazing!
I butter the pan, not the bread. keeps it from getting too buttery. makes a perfectly crisp grilled cheese. yum!
I like to grate the cheese and then put something heavy on top of the sandwich (like a plate or an empty tea kettle). The cheese melts very quickly, and the bread seems to toast very evenly.
You let your husband make grilled cheese?! Why, I won't even let mine step foot in the kitchen. Men! Am I right, ladies?
Butter on whole wheat bread with sharp American cheese, toasted it in the toaster oven.
i'm a purist. whole wheat or white bread with American cheese, please. anything else is sacrilege.
oh, and it must be fried. toaster ovens cannot do it right.
Sure they can! Nice and brown and nutty tasting, and you don't need to worry about turning, covering, or over-cooking them. Yum!
Dutch touch: We put a bit of Maggi seasoning on the sandwich and serve it with a couple slices of bacon. YUM.
@therascalqueen - Really? I *love* seeing my hubby in the kitchen.
I use shredded sharp cheddar cheese, something I always have on hand, it eliminates the slicing the cheese step!
I'm in the mayo bandwagon, too. So much love.
@therascalqueen - If I weren't in the kitchen, all we'd have to eat is Chinese takeout, ramen noodles, and hot dogs. My wife IS the source of the phrase can even burn water! .....that was a really good pot too....
Love the put it on a rack idea, it will help when I'm making multiples when my son has friends over and I need to make more than two at a time!
When we're in a hurry, we just microwave the sandwich first. Throw the pan on and get it nice and hot while the sandwich is microwaving. When the cheese is nice and melty, flash fry each side on the pan to get a crunchy browned crust, and bam, instant grilled cheese in less than half the time.
@ Therascalqueen: Here's the thing, though. If my husband (theoretical husband: I'm single) is in the kitchen, then I'm sitting on the couch with my feet up and a bloody mary in my hand. Which means I get to eat without having had to cook first.
I'm not seeing that there's a problem with that.
Another vote for Mayo! I find it actually burns less quickly than butter, giving more time for the cheese to actually melt. Also grating the cheese is a must for a good melt.
Hi everybody, I was questioning the writer's assumption that every reader on a site about cooking is (a) married and (b) married to a man. Sounds like we're all on the same page.
for a (more) healthy version of grilled cheese I love using a grill pan so I don't have to butter the outside of my bread. Also try using whole wheat naan (Trader Joe's) with classic American cheese. The results are swoon-worthy.
Re: cold butter. Buy a butter dish with a lid. Keep butter in it. I have three lovely old butter dishes that I rotate. Nota bene: do not buy a butter dish that doesn't have a knob or handle on top.
Last thing at night: make sure water jugs are filled and put back into the fridge, make sure there is enough butter in the butter dish for breakfast, prepare the coffee pot and set the timer.
@ShellyIN - i have done them in the toaster oven, and they just aren't as good. frying them makes them more than just a toast and cheese sandwich.
You don't like them as well done in the toaster oven. That does not mean that they are objectively "not as good" as pan-fried. Different strokes.
Fry grilled cheese sandwiches at a low heat so they brown gradually and the cheese has time to melt.
I am completely weirded out by the the idea of using mayo on the outside of a grilled cheese - if you are straying from buttering all sides of the bread (which already means that something is wrong in your head), the mayo goes on the inside, so that its tangy deliciousness can go along with your cheese, and the bread gets all the crispy butterness.
People are strange.
(Just so I don't get any angry responses, please know that I kid, I kid.)
(But for real - mayo on the inside, folks!;)
Oh damn. Now I just may die if I don't have a grilled cheese for dinner.
My favorite is white american, sliced tomatoes and baby arugula on homemade gluten free bread!
@WelcomeReality: this is what I do as well, it's so much easier and produces a less greasy sandwich.
Melt the butter in the pan first kids!!
Cut off the top of a clove of garlic, and rub the garlic on the hot bread- you get the essence of garlic, and people go CRAZY for it... especially tomato mozzarella basil panini.
Easiest way to get a delicious grilled cheese: Go to Melt Bar and Grilled in Cleveland, Ohio!
Other than that or the classic white bread/american cheese/ketsup or tomato soup, I like bagel grilled cheese with herby cheese and some sliced green apples!
Thanks for the great tip on using a lid on the pan. Never knew about that...will try very soon. Also, placing them on a rack is an awesome idea. I grew up using a Toas-Tite. A wonderful two sided round metal contraption with long handles.
You butter two slices of bread lightly and place the buttered slices against each iron, place the cheese, or tuna, or other ingredients in the center, clamp it shut and trim the extra bread off. Then finish it off on the burner. It comes out like a pie.
This also brings to mind a cookbook with great grilled cheese recipes. "Grilled Cheese" by Marlena Spieler. Lots of ideas with different breads, cheese, fillings, condiments...
Agree on the mayo...tried it for the first time recently and it was the best grilled cheese I'd ever made.
ShellyIN - I love them in the toaster oven too! I grew up with them that way (my parents had health problems, and one of the mandates was low fat, so we used butter/related products sparingly), but I still prefer it. I've gotten used to reguarly grilled cheese over the years since that's how my husband makes them, but they still often are too buttery for me.
My favorite is a sliced sourdough baguette, sharp cheddar, some chopped red onion, and chopped fresh or dried dill. Cold butter on the outsides, and low heat to allow the cheese to melt completely. Even better than it sounds!
Yep, melt the butter in the pan, then flip the bread as soon as you put the sandwich in the pan so both sides are buttered before you put the lid on. Shredded cheese, sometimes a combination of cheeses for complex flavor (cheddar and gruyere is good) I really like swiss with mango chutney and sharp cheddar with Inglehofffer orange and honey mustard.
I love all the opinions. Classics must be made each to his/her own!!
I do love a classic white-bread-and-American-cheese (try as I might, I can't get that ooey gooey texture with anything else), but I've also had extra-sharp cheddar AND provolone with tomato on 12-grain bread. Delightful.
Very sharp cheddar with some sweet hot mustard on whole wheat is my staple.
Variations include tossing in some hot curry powder, or adding caramelized onions if I feel like taking the time.
Fancy alt variety: Gruyere with caramelized onions and watercress, generally on sourdough or French rather than wheat.
I also typically use the toaster oven instead of a frying pan - I find the resulting bread texture slightly preferable.
Grilled cheese is something my husband makes better than I do, but I usually only get him to make it when I'm sick. Coincidentally, I just got sick, so maybe we'll pick up some bread today!
Cast. Iron. Griddle.
Have patience.
I'm pretty sure any cast iron pan would revolutionize grilled cheese making, but after tasting the difference, the Le Creuset griddle I purchased no longer seemed so ridiculously expensive. It will never leave my stove top.
I use lower heat for a longer time to make the cheese melt and not burn the bread, but a lid sounds faster. Love the rack idea. I hate it when my grilled cheese gets soggy.
Something I like to do that I haven't seen mentioned is to lift the sandwich about 30 seconds before it's ready to come out and sprinkle a thin layer of shredded cheddar into the pan and lay the sandwich back into the cheese. It creates a wonderfully crispy cheese crust on the sandwich.