What’s better than one cheese? THREE!
As promised in my introductory post (which you can find here), I am back with something interesting. A dish that is my personal favorite as a cheat day meal; biting into which makes me travel all realms across the universe! It's like being able to see a unicorn but with your taste buds. Its crispy on the outside and soooo gooey on the inside!
Asking you to guess the dish now would be such a giveaway. I am talking about the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich!
This is the perfect comfort food for so many people across the globe and yet not everyone knows how to do it right!
Making a grilled cheese sandwich is easy as 1,2,3. You take your bread, top it with lots of cheese, make a sandwich out of it and finally use a grill or pan to toast the bread. Right? Well, yes and a no! Yes, because this is how you make a grilled cheese sandwich and no because this is not how you make your ultimate grilled cheese sandwich! Don’t worry! It's not rocket science and I am here to share what I learned while making it.
Let us start with the very basics, the ingredients.
- First, bread slices (white/brown bread). You can also go for a bread loaf and cut it into thicker pieces as well instead of using the readily available sliced pieces of bread. I personally have used white bread.
- Next up cheeeeeeeeesssssssse. Duh! I work with a combination of Mature Cheddar, Fresh Mozzarella and Monterey Jack. Primarily because all of them melt really well and these three taste sooooo goood together. Cheddar gives you the strong and mature flavour which I personally love. Mozerella stretches well and imparts a milky flavour, perfectly balancing the sharp flavour of cheddar. Monterey Jack, on the other hand, adds up to the gooey-ness of the sandwich.
And, if you are living in a part of the world where you are able to find a large variety of cheese, I envy you. You can try out different combinations of cheese to see which one works the best for you! You can play with their age and freshness to come up with a more interesting combination than mine!
3. Thirdly, butter. Not a lot of it, just a little, to glaze the pan before placing your sandwich on it.
4. And fourth! Whaaat? There is a fourth ingredient to it? You must be thinking I am just messing with you. Honestly, I am not. This is the secret ingredient that pushes your sandwich up a notch! Mayonnaise. Yes, Mayonnaise! Spreading a very thin layer of it before placing your sandwich on the pan does the trick. Makes the crust extra crispy without drying up the bread.
Now that we have the ingredients sorted, let’s move on to the equipment needed for this magical dish.
- Grater. This is to grate the cheese instead of using cheese slices. You might be thinking why not cheese slices, right? Its based on simple logic. Grated cheese melts fast and hence it gets enough time to melt by the time the bread becomes crispy and golden-brown.
- Non-stick pan. This is the multi-purpose magic equipment that I have started to love. You can do so much using this and it never betrays you! ❤
- Wooden spatula. To flip over your sandwich. Avoid using a stainless steel one. It might end up damaging the surface of your pan.
- Butter knife. This would help us spread the mayonnaise over our bread.
- Knife. To cut the sandwich into 2 pieces diagonally. And if you are one of those people who likes to cut the sandwich horizontally or vertically instead, I would recommend you to go and see a doctor ASAP!
- Chopping Board/Plates. Either of them, to prepare a sandwich on and to serve them.
Okay. So we are finally past the preliminary requirements and you have almost prepped up to grill the best cheese sandwich of your life. But do not stop reading just here. You might find a trick below that could change the way you cook forever! ;)
- Start by grating all your cheese into different bowls.
- Place a slice of bread on the board/plate and start mounting it with your cheese one after the other. (The amount of cheese solely depends on you. Although adding a lot of cheese can make it a little too heavy!)
- Top it with the second slice of bread and apply a thin layer of mayonnaise on it using your butter knife.
- Heat up your pan on *low* flame. (Let it heat up before you proceed)
- Place a very small piece of butter on the pan and allow it to melt. Make sure it spreads evenly.
- Now place your sandwich mayonnaise side down and let it cook till it becomes golden brown.
- Meanwhile, apply mayonnaise on the top bread.
- Check if the side facing the pan has achieved your desired color and then flip it over using your spatula. Be careful here, you do not want to break your sandwich apart!
- Let it cook on the other side
- Once golden brown, get the sandwich off the pan and place it on your plate
- Cut it *diagonally*, let the cheese flow, click a few pictures and feast on it! ❤
Pro-Tip: Like garlic/herbs flavour on your sandwich, try using garlic and herbs butter instead of your regular butter and garlic mayonnaise. Helps you go that extra mile!
Bonus Tip: I haven’t tried it, but you can use some parmesan cheese on the top of your bread before placing it on the pan. Helps build up a cheesy crust on the top as well. (Do let me know how it works out if you get a chance to try it!)
You can stop here, run to your nearby grocery store, get all the ingredients and make yourself the sandwich that might even make your heart skip a beat! ❤ ❤
Do let me know when you guys try this recipe and tell me about your experiments with it. I would love to try our your versions.
I am no pro at writing and am all ears to your feedback to continuously improve. Do let me know what you think about it in the comments or via personal message/e-mail.
I will try to start clicking more pictures of things that I use and the entire process. It somehow does not come very naturally.
Thanks for reading! :D
#StopLookinStartCookin!
-Rachit
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