One of the more interesting things about marrying a person is that you learn that the way your own family always did things is not necessarily the way that other families always did things.
Take, for instance, grilled cheese sandwiches.
A. doesn't even call them grilled cheese. He calls them toasted cheese. And the way that he makes them has one very important difference from the way I always made them.
Both of us start out the same--slices of bread with cheese inside. But whereas I would drop butter right into the pan to melt before I put the sandwiches in the melted butter, A. only butters the bread itself.
And I must admit, this is the best way to do it.
Not only does it require less butter altogether, but there's no butter on the open areas of the pan that will burn and smoke as the sandwiches toast.
Anything that keeps my smoke detector from going off is a good idea.
And now! A poll!
Do you call them grilled or toasted cheese sandwiches? And do you butter the pan or the bread?
27 comments:
We call them grilled (from the Great Lakes region), and I make them (when I do) the way you do, melting butter in the pan, mainly because I never have softened butter out and available, so it's easier to just drop the cold butter in. But I put a couple of pats down, then drop the bread on top, so it kind of contains the butter.
My mom had a very different way; we only ever had grilled cheese as a family, with tomato soup, usually on Fridays and always in the winter. We would make thick sandwiches with sliced colby cheese (it was always colby), butter both sides and broil them in the oven. This seemed very logical, as you could make four at a time with no trouble, aside from watching them like a hawk lest they burn under the broiler. Once my grandmother was visiting and wanted to make herself a "toasted cheese" (she was from New York), and she used a frying pan, and I thought that was the strangest way to make a grilled cheese sandwich. She burned it, too, as I recall, either because she wasn't used to our stove or she wasn't used to cooking much at all.
I make grilled cheese like samcarter said, by putting butter in the hot pan and setting the bread right over it. But I will say when I was younger, there was a little grill next to my office and I would request Toasted Cheese and they would put it on a sandwich press without butter and toast it! That is my favorite. Sometimes now I make 2 pieces of cheese toast in the toaster oven and then put the two pieces together so it is toasted. No butter!
When I was growing up, we called them toasted cheese. Now, I call them grilled cheese. I butter the bread. And as samcarter said, they are great with tomato soup. (from the northeast)
Linda
Grilled cheese with tomato and thin sliced lunch meat now.
Used to butter bread first , too messy, so now put the butter in pan to melt , put one piece of bread on the butter then the other stuff other slice of bread I have already dipped in butter in pan. Too many words, it is easier than it sounds.
Southern Indiana , almost Ky.
We always called them grilled cheese although my mother (from Connecticut) rarely made them. We ate them mostly at snack bars at the pool or bowling alley. I'd prefer to butter the bread, but I don't keep my butter on the counter (and don't plan ahead), so I usually melt in the pan and then swirl the bread around to soak up the butter.
Interesting that I butter the bread as well. Guess I changed and don’t remember it.
I butter the bread and call it grilled cheese
We always called them grilled cheese sandwiches. When I was growing up, my mom would make ‘grilled cheese’ with one slice of American cheese on one slice of bread in the microwave. I guess it got the job done for a quick lunch, but definitely not crispy or tasty. My grandparents had a sandwich maker appliance and they made grilled cheese on that. We thought that was awesome! When my husband and I were dating he grilled his sandwiches over the fire on the grill outside. I think he was trying to impress me. They were really tasty. Haha. For the stove, I read about using mayo instead of butter when making grilled cheese sandwiches. That is the way I cook them now.
Georgian here… it’s a grilled cheese with a little mayo inside and buttered bread. If butter is scarce, Mayo on the bread works as well or better.
Grilled cheese and buttered bread (in Maryland).
Grilled cheese and buttered bread in Minnesota.
Grilled Cheese here in Ohio. I do both! Butter in the pan and on the bread. :)
I do the same as Monica. When making a grilled cheese sandwich, :), I butter both sides of the bread and put butter in the pan.
Grilled cheese, and I put the butter on the outside of the bread. Or mayo, if the butter isn't soft (or if the mayo happens to be closer).
Grilled cheese, Texan. My husband also introduced me to buttering the outside of the bread versus greasing the pan and to using mayo for this process instead of butter.
I see I am going to be an outlier, but in my world, these are cheese toasties. Even though there is no toast involved. 🙂 And we butter the bread, though I have been meaning to try using mayo instead.
Cheryl in (central) IL
Iowa family called them “toasted cheese” until we moved to Illinois- then grilled cheese, which is what everyone calls them here. I did learn that they can be made at about 270 calories, with lightly buttered bread, or closer to 1,000 calories if soaked in butter, as they do in restaurants! Learned about “cheese toasties”, same thing, from British brother-in-law!
Grilled cheese and butter the pan! Mary in MN
Toasted cheese, northwesterner with a bit of Iowa. We only had "real" cheese, never the processed stuff, but-- and I shudder to remember- the bread was the squishy white no-nutrition kind. Buttered the bread not the pan. Now it's whole grain bread, sometimes with sliced tomatoes.
Grilled cheese. Originally from Philly.
After assembling the bread and cheese, butter the top of the top piece, melt a little butter in the pan, and put the sandwich in.
These days I call them toasted cheese sandwiches and make them by toasting 2 slices of whole grain bread, putting sliced extra sharp cheddar between the slices of bread as soon as they're out of the toaster, then putting the sandwich in the microwave for 20 seconds or so. I might put a smear of mayo and dijon mustard on the cheese before nuking. I save my sizable butter intake for warm homemade bread, potatoes, and rice.
Here in the UK we have cheese on toast or Welsh Rarebit. You butter the bread, lay on the cheese and put it under the grill (broil?). So it’s an open sandwich. No pan or second slice involved. Welsh Rarebit is a bit more interesting and has mustard, Worcestershire sauce and other bits added to the cheese.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/welsh-rarebit
It’s a cheese toastie in the UK and we would usually make it in a toasty maker (sandwich press with bread shaped plates that presses it into two large, sealed triangles). I would usually butter the outside of the bread so it’s crispy after being pressed on the hot plates. Steph.
New Jersey here...I call them grilled cheese and either butter or mayo the outside of the bread then open the sandwich up and put sliced tomato inside. Yum!
Grilled Cheese in Missouri. Had a grilled cheese in a local restaurant that had bacon & bacon jam in it - delicious! Since husband has been declared lactose intolerant, and cheese is really bad for him, don't do them much anymore.
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