Inside-out Grilled Cheese Sandwich

The humble toasted cheese sandwich.  Also known as grilled cheese sandwich, toasted cheese, toastie or simply grilled cheese.  Quick and easy to make, loved by many and easy to doll up with extra ingredients such as ham, tomato, onions, bacon, fried eggs.  They are a trusted staple in many a corner café and Wimpy in South Africa.


In South Africa (as I suppose in the UK) we use a sandwich toaster to toast our cheese sandwiches.  In the USA however, they use mostly cast iron skillets to fry them to a golden brown, or so I've been told.


I possibly went over the top with the cheese on the inside - just a bit.

A grilled cheese sandwich is something that is taken very seriously in America.  I found this on wikipedia.org:  

"At the Grilled Cheese Invitational cook-off, held annually in Los Angeles, contestants attempt to cook the best grilled cheese sandwich in various categories. The 2008 winner of the Grilled Cheese Invitational "Spaz Trophy", awarded for overall "weirdness", was the "Cake and Mivens" entry, a dessert grilled cheese sandwich that featured the marshmallow peeps confectionery.
On November 23, 2004, a grilled cheese sandwich containing a supposed likeness of the Virgin Mary was sold at auction for $28,000. "Discovered" in 1994, it had remained free of mold for ten years because the butter and oils used to make the sandwich retarded its development.
According to Woman's Day, April is "Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month."

My favourite way of doing a toasted sandwich is still using the "flat" sandwich toaster.  They are hard to find these days though.  The newer "snackwich" toasters turns your sandwich into a jaffle.  Nothing wrong with a jaffle but for me the whole purpose of a toasted cheese sandwich is the cheese that oozes out and becomes crispy on the toaster.  As a kid I always tried to sneak off with the sandwich with the biggest piece of crispy cheese! 


My inside-out, or maybe inside AND out cheese sandwich has crispy cheese on the outside, just the way I like it.  It is guaranteed not good for your diet, but man, does it taste good!  I don't have a cast iron skillet, so my trusty non-stick pan from Ikea had to do the trick.

Inside-out Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Ingredients:
  • a couple of slices of white bread (in Taiwan try to by some non-sweet bread from Carrefour)
  • Cheddar cheese, grated (in Taiwan, use REAL cheese!  Those little wrapped slices of rubbery, yellow/orange stuff...that is NOT cheese, people!)
  • 1 or 2 Tbsp of butter
Method:

  1. Heat your pan to a medium high heat and melt the butter in the pan.
  2. Put a slice of bread in the pan, top with some grated cheese and put another slice of bread on top.  Push the slice of bread down, so the bread and cheese can connect with each other in the sandwich.
  3. Now put as small amount, about 2 teaspoons, of grated cheese on top of the top slice.  Use a egg lifter and flip the whole sandwich over, so the cheese can melt and get a crispy golden brown.  Also put a small amount of cheese on the side that is facing up right now.  When the underside is nice and crisp, flip the sandwich over again and brown the other side.
  4. Let it rest ever so briefly on some kitchen paper, just so that we can say we tried to reduce the fat.  (Who am I trying to kid?  This is the best hangover sandwich, because of the oiliness!)  Serve while hot.

By all means dress it up with some good ham, tomato or anything else you feel like, with a salad on the side.  And if you feel like adding marshmallows like the people in L.A. - don't tell anyone it was my idea!

Comments

  1. Kitchenboy... you are personally responsible for my mouth watering at 7:00am!!
    Why? Why?? Why??

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oops! Sorry about that Marion! Hahaha!

    This recipe is strictly meant for Cheese Sluts, as they call themselves on Twitter. Kaas dit en geniet dit!

    ReplyDelete

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