This Is the Pantry Staple Gordon Ramsay Uses to Make the Perfect Grilled Cheese

Cheryl Fenton
Cheryl Fenton
An editor once called her “the kitchen sink writer." Translation - Boston-based freelancer Cheryl Fenton can write about anything, including the kitchen sink (peep her interior design pieces). Her bylines run the gamut from dailies like USAToday and the Boston Globe to monthly pubs including Whole Foods, Women's Health & Fitness, and Cooking Light to book covers (there's a travel guide for Fodor's with her name on it and a fitness read she wrote with Tamilee Webb of Buns of Steel fame).
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published Mar 1, 2023
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Gordon Ramsey attends the 26th Annual Webby Awards on May 16, 2022 in New York City.
Credit: Mike Coppola / Staff / Getty Images

While it might seem like just a simple sandwich, the grilled cheese is anything but. This staple is actually quite polarizing — from what cheese you choose to what you slather the bread with before it hits the frying pan (are you team mayo or team butter?) or whether you use a frying pan at all (hello, air fryer). These are some tough choices, even for Michelin-starred chefs like Gordon Ramsay. 

When the world-renowned restaurateur and host of his newest competition, Next Level Chef, took to TikTok with his take on a grilled cheese back in 2021, he was met with a few naysayers on adding kimchi to the sandwich for an extra tang. Spoiler alert: This didn’t stop the combo from becoming TikTok’s first viral food video of 2023. 

These days, however, Ramsay has decided on using a more basic pantry staple to lift his grilled cheese sandwiches to the next level. And it’s a way too easy and delicious tip for us not to try it. 

“I’d get some beautiful onions … caramelize them [and] deglaze them in a touch of sherry vinegar,” he said in a recent exclusive interview with Tasting Table. Why vinegar, you ask? Apparently, it adds a hidden depth and a clean brightness that balances out the onions.

He also recommends pairing your caramelized onions with “the most amazing mature cheddar.” As cheddar isn’t the most meltable choice, he warns against using slices and instead finely grating the cheese for a more evenly melted grilled cheese sandwich.

Hopefully these new tips will help Ramsay redeem himself from his previous version of a grilled cheese sandwich, but only time will tell. In the meantime though, if you’re looking for more tasty ways to use caramelized onions with cheese, try this baked Brie recipe.

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