It’s important to note that American style grilled cheese absolutely requires the bread to be toasted in fat, not dry.
This is traditionally done by smearing one side of each bread slice in softened butter before grilling the assembled sandwich on a (ideally cast iron, in my opinion) pan with the buttered sides facing out. Some alternative fats include mayonnaise and (my favorite) bacon grease from American-style bacon.
The resulting toast shouldn’t look like it was made in a toaster, it should look something like this:
The sandwich should still be greasy enough to leave a thin film of butter on your fingers when picked up.
Also, if not using American “cheese” which has emulsifiers added to make it melt well, it’s important to include a cheese that melts well, typically paired with a second, slightly more flavorful cheese like cheddar.
Thank you for the details. This is a really wholesome community. Can I use cheddar + mozzarella? Also, in my country real cheddar is very expensive and hard to find. Can I use processed cheddar? How many slices, if so?
Yes cheddar and mozzarella is perfect. Processed cheddar may even be preferable especially if it’s the kind that comes in individual wrapped slices for sandwiches. Two slices is probably plenty but you can do more if it’s larger slices of bread, you just run the risk of the cheese spilling out of the sides while cooking it. If this happens just flip the sandwich onto the cheese until it sticks to the outside of the bread. Garlic salt is also pretty crucial. Low heat and slow is the way to go it’s pretty easy to overshoot and burn the bread, if this happens and you catch it in time you can use a butter knife to scrape the black part off until you get to good bread underneath.
It’s important to note that American style grilled cheese absolutely requires the bread to be toasted in fat, not dry.
This is traditionally done by smearing one side of each bread slice in softened butter before grilling the assembled sandwich on a (ideally cast iron, in my opinion) pan with the buttered sides facing out. Some alternative fats include mayonnaise and (my favorite) bacon grease from American-style bacon.
The resulting toast shouldn’t look like it was made in a toaster, it should look something like this:
The sandwich should still be greasy enough to leave a thin film of butter on your fingers when picked up.
Also, if not using American “cheese” which has emulsifiers added to make it melt well, it’s important to include a cheese that melts well, typically paired with a second, slightly more flavorful cheese like cheddar.
Thank you for the details. This is a really wholesome community. Can I use cheddar + mozzarella? Also, in my country real cheddar is very expensive and hard to find. Can I use processed cheddar? How many slices, if so?
Yes cheddar and mozzarella is perfect. Processed cheddar may even be preferable especially if it’s the kind that comes in individual wrapped slices for sandwiches. Two slices is probably plenty but you can do more if it’s larger slices of bread, you just run the risk of the cheese spilling out of the sides while cooking it. If this happens just flip the sandwich onto the cheese until it sticks to the outside of the bread. Garlic salt is also pretty crucial. Low heat and slow is the way to go it’s pretty easy to overshoot and burn the bread, if this happens and you catch it in time you can use a butter knife to scrape the black part off until you get to good bread underneath.