Grilled Cheese

The perfect grilled cheese, to me, is one of the 4 "mother sandwiches" in the culinary hierarchy. The simple conglomeration of toasted bread and melted cheese can make me feel better on even the worst days. But recently I read a bit of dribble from someone that made me so upset I needed two grilled cheeses to get over it.

To start with, I have nothing against American cheese and Wonder Bread. Together they make an amazingly crispy gooey sandwich that I love and crave. But as we grow older we like to take our childhood classics and make them our own. For me it was adding Swiss to the cheese mix, then sourdough instead of white bread, and then I started adding ingredients. Bacon and apples with cheddar, brie and cornichons, Blue cheese with caramelized onions and pear, the list goes on.

The reason I call the grilled cheese a mother sandwich is because it’s the basic platform for so many other great sandwiches. The croque monsieur in France for example is nothing more than a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. And with the addition of a fried egg and Mornay sauce it becomes a croque madam, a complete and satisfying meal.

But as far as I stretch my mind in search of new and exciting grilled cheese combinations, I always come back to the original for comfort. Because a grilled cheese does not have to be pretentious, or be made with $26 dollar a pound cheese. Its a comfort food, and for me that means two slices of white bread perfectly toasted on either side with 2 pieces of American cheese melted in between.

Stew