Grilled Cheese

[cdh]

Katie--

Mmmm.. that horseradish cheddar does make a mighty fine grilled cheese... even works with my open faced method. Whose horseradish cheddar did you use? I randomly ran across an English horseradish cheddar from Ilchester called Romany, which was great. Any other suggestions for quality cheese with zing?

Spaghetttti--

I like to experiment w/ my cheese and bread (though more the cheese than the bread). So far I've found that the cheese needs to be somewhat hard, like some sharper cheddars, and aged gouda, and this crazy Norwegian cheese (that is full of spices like caraway and cloves) called Nokelost... all of those worked really well. A younger cheddar with a higher moisture content like Cabot's gets a little too oozy and doesn't adhere to the bread quite right once it melts... As to bread, I use supermarket loaf whole wheat or multi grain generally. Artisan breads have too much crust and aren't spongy enough to make a proper grilled cheese sandwich. The proper grilled cheese is about minimizing the bread and maximizing the cheese, as far as I'm concerned. Bread must be soft and spongy and capable of absorbing the cheesy oils that exude from the frying cheese. That is the only real requirement.

[jgarner53]

The cover of Marlena's book makes me want a grilled cheese sandwich right now. Oh my god. That photo is probably illegal in several states for what it makes me want to to do bread, cheese, and butter!

[marlena spieler]

Dear JGarner: oooooh, you. Don't even ask about what we've done with cheese and bread chez spieler. doesn't that cheese oooze gorgeously........

and Jackal10! oh yeah, i'm so with you on this one, and even have a recipe in my book for cheese, worcester sauce, tabasco and an egg. oh god sometimes this is what i have to have!

As Jason, you are so right that a good strong blue or Cheddar would be nice on a sour dense rye and fruit/raisin bread, but i might extend that to cover a firm goat.

x even after writing a whole book on grilled cheese sandwiches, i still start salivating at the drop of a mention: grilled.......cheese........yeah, i'm in that kitchen.

what are the favourite things to go with them?

i like homemade tomato soup, the acidic tangy quality. and i also like bread and butter pickles, mustard seed pickled onions, and also a bowl of cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes for juicy fresh bites. someone suggested french fries but i think its just too heavy, i like to revel in the richness without getting overwhelmed too soon. but i might make an exception for crisps, salt and vinegar crisps.

Does anyone do bacon grilled cheese? I only do it if i can add lashings of not too hot chipotle salsa to it.

mmmmmm

marlena

[spaghetttti]

Congratulations, Marlena

I'm gonna pick up a copy when I come home. And probably gain 50 pounds on the grilled cheese sandwiches I'll make from the recipes in your book

Much success!

Yetty

[KatieLoeb]

Katie--

Mmmm.. that horseradish cheddar does make a mighty fine grilled cheese... even works with my open faced method. Whose horseradish cheddar did you use? I randomly ran across an English horseradish cheddar from Ilchester called Romany, which was great. Any other suggestions for quality cheese with zing?

Chris:

Alas, I don't recall whose cheese it was specifically. I think I got it at Reading Terminal from one of the Amish stands that has cheese and cold cuts. The same folks do a killer Habanero Cheddar as well. Plenty of zing there!

[Jason Perlow]

Does anyone do bacon grilled cheese? I only do it if i can add lashings of not too hot chipotle salsa to it.

mmmmmm

Bacon with grilled cheese, defnitely.

I wonder if there is a way to combine the fried peanut butter, bananna and bacon sandwich (Elvis) with grilled cheese... that would really be something. Maybe Halloumi, since that wouldnt turn everything into a gooey mess.

[SobaAddict70]

Have you ever made a grilled cheese sammich, but using bagels?

Just something to consider.

Soba

[Rachel Perlow]

I'm gonna pick up a copy when I come home.

Click the link above to order it from Amazon and it will be waiting for you when you get home!

[FistFullaRoux]

Whatever kind of bread you like

Sliced or shredded mozzerella or provolone

A grind or two of black pepper

A mix of half olive oil and half butter in a hot pan

Build and grill as usual.

Serve with a small ramikin of your favorite marinara sauce for dipping.

Nummy.

[marlena spieler]

Have you ever made a grilled cheese sammich, but using bagels?

hi soba,

as a bagel lover you can bet i made grilled cheese sammies on bagels but i'm telling you: you can't make a closed grilled cheese on a bagel cause its the heaviest substance on this planet, the cheese oozes out and all you have left is a heavy greasy bagel.

but open faced, thats another story: a classic!

i especially love toasted bagels--onion, garlic or everything--spread hot with ripe ripe brie, not exactly a grilled cheese sandwich but close enough. then i warm it gently under the broiler but not to melt it to the extent of melty and crispy and grilled cheesey.

I LOVE this bagel and brie sandwich. also, sometimes i use st marcellin and dribble it with truffle oil. but you gotta do this on a nice crisp baguette or sour leavain, not a bagel for this one.

Jason: I LIKE YOUR IDEA for the elvis presley extravaganza, and must admit that i just didn't go far enough with my book. i think i coulda got baroque and wacked out but you know, there was an editor and a publisher to think about, but yeah: peanut butter, bacon and banana, and i bet there is just the right cheese to fiddle around with there! do you think a little chutney next to the peanut butter, before the bacon and banana and cheese? i find that a little tempting........

as for my dinner right now.........i'm making eggplants filled with kefalotyri cheese, simmered in tomato sauce with garlic and a dash of vinegar. from the island of zakynthos, and while not exactly a grilled cheese sandwich, i'm gonna be dipping my bread into it all. yum.

[marlena spieler]

ps: a tuna melt on a half a bagel, the cheese melted under the broiler is one of my all time favourites. i make the tuna sort of spanish style, with roasted red peppers, paprika, onions and olives added to the mix. and a zesty funky cheese to melt on top.

[SobaAddict70]

I just had a brain flash just now.

Those of you who like McDonald's (yes, they are redeemable for certain things), McD's has I believe bagel sandwiches for breakfast. Kind of like mini bagels, with omelettes and sausage and things. I was wondering whether it was possible to make a grilled bagel cheese sandwich but I guess not.

I used to make grilled cheese sandwiches with Swiss and muenster on rye or whole wheat. My favorite combo is a grilled cheese sandwich topped with fried onions and mushrooms.

Haven't done that in a while though....

Soba

[Knicke]

Yeh, I agree with the above. Bagels + melted cheese = good, but only openfaced. Perhaps if you took one of those ginormous monster bagels that so many bagel chains are fond of these days, and sliced into 4 slices instead of in half - used the middle slices...

But if you're going to go to that much trouble, why not just use bread??

[SobaAddict70]

True dat.

They don't make onion and poppy seed bread though, at least that I know of.

If I don't stop reading this thread, I'll get hungry again.

Soba

[SobaAddict70]

I have been trying to follow this thread, so I apologize if this has already been covered:

What type of cheese (and other accoutrements) would you pair with a hearty walnut raisin bread?

Need ideas...

Brie or perhaps queso blanco, maybe some kind of sharp blue cheese.

Maybe some fig chutney or date paste on the side, and a glass of red wine.

Soba

[Jason Perlow]

Jason: I LIKE YOUR IDEA for the elvis presley extravaganza, and must admit that i just didn't go far enough with my book. i think i coulda got baroque and wacked out but you know, there was an editor and a publisher to think about, but yeah: peanut butter, bacon and banana, and i bet there is just the right cheese to fiddle around with there!  do you think a little chutney next to the peanut butter, before the bacon and banana and cheese? i find that a little tempting........

Yeah its hard to say what kind of cheese would go with this. It may very well be a simple domestic cheddar, because we know peanut butter is a good match for those cheese cracker and peanut butter sandwich things you get out of vending machines in bus terminals and college dormitories. A mild cheddar, not anything too sharp. Or you could get wacky and go for one of those spicy picante Mexican cheeses like a Jack with jalapenos.

Chutney on top of this sounds interesting. Maybe mango chutney.

BTW bought a whole pint of fresh figs today from the farmers market in anticpation of using it with some of the recipes in your book.

I really want to make that ultra-goyishe Austin Powers sandwich too.

[marlena spieler]

Jason: I LIKE YOUR IDEA for the elvis presley extravaganza, and must admit that i just didn't go far enough with my book. i think i coulda got baroque and wacked out but you know, there was an editor and a publisher to think about, but yeah: peanut butter, bacon and banana, and i bet there is just the right cheese to fiddle around with there!  do you think a little chutney next to the peanut butter, before the bacon and banana and cheese? i find that a little tempting........

we know peanut butter is a good match for those cheese cracker and peanut butter sandwich things you get out of vending machines in bus terminals and college dormitories.

Chutney on top of this sounds interesting. Maybe mango chutney.

BTW bought a whole pint of fresh figs today from the farmers market in anticpation of using it with some of the recipes in your book.

I really want to make that ultra-goyishe Austin Powers sandwich too.

Brilliant, Jason! peanut butter on cheese crackers, how great a combo is that, points the way to fine things with our peanut butter extravaganza.......

and yeah, if we're doing chutney, its gotta be an anglo-indian one like mango, sweet and spicy but not too hot.

and oh, fresh figs: yesterday I made a salad of: wild arugula (the kind that is long and kinda weedy and has a fine nippy flavour, then scattered shaved fennel, wedges of fat juicy black figs, and slabs of milky sweet manouri cheese over the top, extra virgin olive oil and balsamico drizzled over it all, and a grinding of coarse black pepper.

once in Bulgaria, in the little town of Melnick, I ate the most divine preserved whole figs in syrup. they tasted as if they had been plucked from a honey tree. when i exclaimed that i thought they would be delish with goats cheese one of the british journalists i was with remarked: you can take the girl out of california but you can't take california out of the girl. i'm still annoyed at that, cause no doubt about it: figs and goats cheese, nice nice nice.

re: austin powers shagadelic: you are so right. it is the most goyishe thing i've ever eaten.

x marlena

[marlena spieler]

you can take the girl out of california but you can't take california out of the girl. i'm still annoyed at that

To clarify, thats actually a really nice thing to say, and i'm proud to come from a place where we have both gorgeous figs and gorgeous goats.......and we put them together every chance we can get.

its just the comment was said in a manner of a put down.

and its the put-down aspect that was uncalled for.

the goats cheese and figs--alone or together-- as always fill me with joy.

marlena

[Jason Perlow]

Marlena did you formulate the Shagadelic yourself?

Did you have to get permission to use the Austin Powers moniker? Allthough I suppose not, since plenty of delis and whatnot have sandwiches named after people. Except that Austin is a fictional person.

[sweetfreak]

So, I experimented with my grilled cheese and it turned out pretty darned good.

Here is what I used:

slices of fig and pine nut bread from our local Marvelous Market

thin smear of fig spread on both slices of bread

thinly sliced green apple

and Cabot white cheddar.

Grilled it all up in the George Foreman Grill.

It was tasty!

[SobaAddict70]

What's the Austin Powers sandwich?

Soba

[marlena spieler]

Marlena did you formulate the Shagadelic yourself?

Did you have to get permission to use the Austin Powers moniker? Allthough I suppose not, since plenty of delis and whatnot have sandwiches named after people. Except that Austin is a fictional person.

Yes, Jason, I indeed did formulate the austin powers' shag-a-delic myself. i was awash in a whole seventies feeling with the trashy messy yummy totally tasteless and tasty thing, and i thought: you know, a dignified name just wouldn't be right.

i made the filling years ago and ate it as a cold sandwich: diced cheddar, ham, pinapple, and mayo dressing, and kept adding to it.

when i decided to do the grilled cheese book i thought: yeah, make a layer of cheese and grilled that sucker.

and yes, yes, yes, the name came to me in a cholesterol-induced haze: i just thought the sandwich was so woowwweee seventies wacky and yum, that austin powers and shagadelic came to mind.

and as a note, shag in britain means something slightly different from shag in america. it means sex. nice.

and no, i didn't get permission to use austin powers moniker, didn't even think of it, i guess cause of the whole deli sandwich thing named after people. even fictional people.

marlena

ps: austin powers, just in case you are reading this, email me and i'll make you a funky ol' shag-a-delic that you won't soon forget. actually i don't think that anyone who eats the austin powers shag-a-delic forgets it.

[irodguy]

Thinly sliced Sourdough, Cabot 50% Cheddar, Bacon, and a little shake of EVOO on the bread. The real secret is my grill, yep a genuine George Foreman It's about the only thing I use it for.

[tanabutler]

gorgeous figs and gorgeous goats

Marlena, if you like goats, you owe it to yourself to get to Harley Farms Goat Dairy in Pescadero. We toured last weekend with the Outstanding in the Field farm dinners...one of the best tours I've ever been on. You will love it. (And Pescadero is so beautiful.)

And if you love figs, come to the farm dinner in the fig orchard in Brentwood on September 12 (if you'll be around). They carpet the place with lavender, and it smells so heavenly.

Edited August 27, 2004 by tanabutler (log)

[AzRaeL]

Gorgonzola

nice and runny and spread over my toast.

honey drizzed lightly on top.

Is there anything finer?