How to Make "The Perfect Grilled Cheese Sandwich"

Many of us have had a grilled cheese sandwich in one way or another. It’s one of those staples in our American culture—and it’s supposed to be something that we can make quickly and easily without creating a huge mess. And face it, you’d have to be crazy to not like grilled cheese, right? I mean, we all enjoy the smell of bread toasting in the pan, with the scent of your favorite cheese melting perfectly onto the tasty bread… Oh boy, I can almost taste it now!

But, does everybody know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich? Simple enough, right? Wrong! If you don’t know what you’re doing, you could end up with a pretty messy and sloppy sandwich that will bring you minimal joy, and a major mess.

What I’m about to do here is grace you with the instructions for the making of “The Perfect Grilled Cheese Sandwich.” Since we are in college, I’m going to go ahead and set this up for you, my fellow students—or, even if you’re not in school but love a great grilled cheese—this may just change your life!

PREPARATION:

The first thing we need to do is pick the best bread for such a task. Remember, this bread must be a type of bread that can handle the task at hand. You don’t want a wimpy plain white bread. First, it has no real flavor… it’s just kinda ‘there’. Second, it’s not the strongest of the breads to choose from. Remember, this is the thing that’s going to hold the whole package together, so choose wisely. I personally like to use a thickly sliced loaf of sourdough bread. It has flavor, it has texture, and it’s big enough to encase the main content… the cheese!

The next thing we need to decide upon is the kind of cheese you want to use. Most people grew up slapping together a couple slices of white bread and throwing a slice of prepackaged American cheese in the center of the bread slices. This is typical, but not something we want to promote as a good thing. We want to forget that ever happened.

When you’re making this sandwich, use things that you enjoy. My favorite cheese is Pepper Jack Cheese, which is a combination of Monterey Jack Cheese and diced green chilies mixed into the cheese before it hardens. The flavor this cheese provides is hard to describe in any way other than zesty deliciousness! Well, what do you know? I guess it’s not that hard to describe after all.

To make The Perfect Grilled Cheese Sandwich, you will need the following items for a serving of four sandwiches:

• One loaf of sourdough bread
• One half pound of Pepper Jack cheese
• One small tub of soft butter
• One 15” frying pan
• One spatula
• One toaster
• One plate
• Two Paper towels
• One gas stove with top burners

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Take the cheese and make slices measuring 3mm thick. Continue to do this until you have 12 slices. Once you have 12 slices, set the cheese aside on a clean surface for now.
2. Grab the loaf of sourdough bread and pull out eight slices. Put the sliced bread into the toaster and very lightly toast the bread on the lowest toasting level.
3. Grab a dinner plate and place a paper towel or two on top of the plate and set it aside for now.
4. As the bread is toasting, take your frying pan, place it on the stove with a low flame, and add a tablespoon of butter. Take the butter with your spatula, and move it around the pan until it is lightly covered in melted butter.
5. When the bread pops out of the toaster, immediately spread a light layer of butter on both sides of the bread. This will be a little messy, but make sure it is done promptly so that the butter can lightly melt and latch onto the bread slices.
6. When you’ve finished lightly buttering all the breads, place them flatly onto the frying pan. With this sized pan, you should be able to fit four slices of bread into the pan.
7. When the bread lightly browns, flip it over with your spatula, and place three slices of cheese onto the cooked side of two of the four breads so that it covers the inside of the two breads, but leaves about a ¼ inch room on the sides.
8. Take the browned side of the other two breads and place them face down on top of the cheese covered slices.
9. Lightly press the breads together, then with your spatula, flip the sandwich over to brown the top slices of the bread that hasn’t been ‘browned’.
10. Place the sandwiches onto the paper towel covered plate to soak up some of the butter. Your grilled cheese sandwich should have a nice toasty exterior, with perfectly melted cheese in the center in-between toasted, butter flavored sourdough bread.
11. Repeat the instructions for the remaining bread and cheese slices.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Once you have tried my version of The Perfect Grilled Cheese Sandwich, I’m sure you will never go back to the way you made them before. The best part of making anything having to do with food, you can always add things that you think may improve the dish or enhance the flavor. You like onions? Add onions! You like garlic? Add garlic! The taste is up to you.

The thing you mostly get out of this set-up is a nice toasty buttery flavored bread—and the bread is what holds the sandwich together!

Bon appetit!