I've always made it by buttering the bread and using deli sliced cheese (so it's not too thick). I think grated cheese is too messy. If I'm adding tomato or ham I put it between slices of cheese so it can all melt together.

I don't always grate the cheese, sometimes those American cheese slices are the way to go, but I definitely butter the bread.

I am always reminded of my surgery/bedbound times when my non-cook of a father would make me grilled cheese that always made me incredibly nauseous. One day I discovered he was putting the buttered sides of the bread on the inside, so I was getting an awful lot of uncooked butter and it was not good. At least he tried!

Now he helps me in the kitchen and does a great job, and fortunately I can make my own grilled cheese again.

Sliced wheat sandwich bread, Munster deli slices, butter on the bread... heaven!
As a big grown up i often make grilled cheese w/thin sliced rosemary loaf and fresh mozzerella on my griddle pan, with a press. On the griddle i use olive oil.

CHEESE LOUISE! the idea of a grilled cheese is quick, easy, and delicious. you can butter the pan like i do, and then just push it (or the bread) around to coat it. i'm a grilled sandwich pro, and i never bother dirtying a butter knife. cut the butter off with the spatula, slather it around, lay on the bread, then the cheese, (and tuna, or ham, tomato or whatever else), top slice, and a lid. before flipping, another dollop of butter, flip, slather the butter around under the bread. et voila - perfect, crispy and delish.

i also never use nonstick. a properly seasoned cast iron pan is fine. any cheese can be scraped off or put on a high heat for a minute and burned off.

How hard is it to spread butter around on a pan and slice thin pieces of cheese? That grated cheese business is just making it unnecessarily complicated.

My ex made the best grilled cheese... He used mayo on the outside and shredded cheese in the middle... MMMM

I actually never butter or oil the bread, as I don't like to get my hands greasy. I never have a problem with the bread sticking and I put it stright onto either a stainless steel Calphalon skillet (without non-stick coating) or a black enamel coated Le Creuset pan. Always comes out crispy and delicious, and slightly lower in fat too (for what it's worth), plus it saves a step.

I butter the bread and use very thin sliced Edam cheese. I think I end up using less butter when I butter the bread than when i put butter directly in the pan.

I don't think I've ever seen ANYONE place the butter directly in the pan, use thick bread or thick or sparse cheese. Who are these "most people"?

I've always buttered the bread and used a cheese plane to thinly slice the cheese. Grating the cheese seems somewhat unnecessary and just gives me one more thing to wash. Also, on the non-stick pan thing, I won't use them (I don't like the idea of ingesting Teflon), but I do use our well-seasoned cast iron pan, which is naturally non-stick and conducts and holds heat VERY well.

e.scott - Yeah, these "mistakes" seem pretty unlikely.

We use mayo, too, instead of butter.

Sometimes I've made it in the waffle iron (I think I read the tip here one year), specifically for plopping into a bowl of tomato soup.

i am also anti-grated cheese

Well, looks like the 4th & 5th commenters like to put butter directly into the pan... as do my dad and husband. These "unlikely mistakes" are the norm for many people.

Grating cheese? What a pain! Lid? Why would I want to wash that? I just keep the pan on medium-low until the bread is golden brown and cheese is melted.

It never occurred to me that anyone didn't know how to make a good grilled cheese. It's probably the first hot "meal" I learned to make. Who are these "most people" who are so unsuccessful in their grilled cheese making endeavors? What I want to know is if you try one thing (thick cheese, etc) and it doesn't work, why would you keep making it that way? There have to be dozens of "right" ways to make a crunchy, unburned, melty sandwich.

1) I am really shocked no one has brought this up, but does anyone use processed cheese slices for their grilled cheese? Maybe it's because I'm Canadian? but I don't think I have ever not used Kraft cheese singles. Not that non-processed cheese doesn't sound good.

2) You can grill mayo?! I am very curious... I just thought this was something that was joked about on the TV show 30 Rock.

3) Pretty much every tip in that video was something I already did. Made me feel very proud of my grilled cheese cooking abilities.

for me, the best way to make a grilled cheese is the way that gets it onto the plate and into my mouth...in all its toasty, melty goodness...the soonest. duh.

I highly recommend using a foreman grill. I think its the same idea with a waffle maker and special sandwich machine:all appliances allow you to grill on both sides at the same time, eliminating the need for flipping and for covering with a lid. Not that its onerous to do that, but if you have one of these appliances, why not use it?

The part at the beginning where she creates some ridiculous "wrong" sandwich with huge wads of bread and cheese and too little butter reminds me of the Dr. Nick Riviera infomercials on "The Simpsons". That is, you do a bunch of things really stupidly which no one in the real world actually does and then proceed to tell them how to do it right. Seriously, I have never known anyone to cut the bread or cheese the way she did. Most people don't even slice their own bread.

Personally, I use a cheese planer for thin slices which I layer on as needed to get enough cheese in the sandwich. I've made them with grated cheese when all I had on hand was pre-grated stuff, and it's just a mess. I also put butter directly in the pan and have never had coverage issues because I put in enough and I put in more when I flip it.

The only "mistake" presented that seems reasonable to be common is the butter the bread or butter in the pan thing. Who uses three tiny pieces of cheese that cover less than half the bread? Who is using giant ultrathick slices of bread?

And the butter thing is disputable. Sure, I put the butter on the bread like the "right" way in the video, but I can totally see people putting it in the pan. As long as there is an even puddle in the pan that the bread can fit into or you shift the bread around a bit to make sure all it's surface has some contact, then it is a perfectly reasonable way to do it.

Also, I'll take my cheese gooey but not oozing all over the place and making a mess. I don't want molten cheese spilling out onto my hands while I'm eating.

Some of the videos in this series are pretty good, but this one was not.

Is there any way to stop spammers in this site like this person dahao?

AT3NCION, I'm with you. processed cheese, kraft chese singles all the way. I think they even make ones specifically for grilled cheese now.

In my mind, there is only one true grilled cheese sandwhich.

2 slices wonder bread (wonder only!)
1.5 slices kraft cheese singles ( one full slice, the half slice torn into strips to fill the rest of the slice of bread)

butter the top of the top slice of bread, flip it into the pan, butter the other side.

for me, since grilled cheese is an inherently lazy dish, i always forget to have soft butter around (I don't use much butter), so lately i've taken to grating the butter onto the bread, it lets you use cold butter without tearing the bread.

I put my butter in the pan, wipe around the top piece, take it out, put in the bottom piece, wipe it around some more and then assemble in the pan bread-cheese-bread and cook medium low until gooey.

Also, regarding thick bread, I have had really tasty grilled cheese diner style with thick texas toast white bread and double or triple thick deli slices or kraft singles. not a complete crime at all as long as the bread is squooshy enough to get in your mouth. Definitely wouldn't work with crusty artisanal loaf bread.

i guess i can almost qualify as "most peole", e.scott.

butter in the pan, push the bread around to coat, warm through, flip the bread, cheese on top of the warmed bread so that it melts quickly and evenly, cut the heat, cover briefly, add fried egg, pesto, and tomato.

best. ever.

oh...flipping the warmed bread allows for thicker bread slices, too! :)