Grilled-Cheese Sandwiches

I just read a blog posting somewhere (I don't think there's a reason to single it out specifically) that wanted to talk about grilled-cheese sandwiches. Alas, they ended up talking about some unrecognizable food-from-Mars made with hearty textured artisanal breads made of grains with unpronounceable names and–worse!–insisted on a big block of "real" cheese, banning anything with the word "process" in it.

Wrong! The only grilled-cheese sandwich that truly satisfies, really, really deep down, is made with soft, white bread and American pasteurized process cheese-food product. (I love saying it in conversation, ever since I practiced and mastered "American pasteurized process cheese-food product".)

First, the APPC-FP. I was one of those kids who didn't like "real" cheese; it tasted like spoiled milk to me. Imagine that! I was in graduate school before I tasted a "real" cheese that I actually liked. You'll get no prize for guessing that it was Brie. Yumm! Since then there are a number of cheeses that I've come to enjoy or to be able to eat without serious displeasure.

Nevertheless, I still like the taste of APPC-FP, particularly in a grilled-cheese sandwich. Now, I'm not making a bid here for "authenticity" or some such silliness. I can enjoy the fancy-pants grilled-cheese with artisanal bread and some hearty cheeses inside. But, if I am craving grilled-cheese, it's grilled-cheese with APPC-FP that I'm craving.

Made with soft, white bread, please. Yes, this was the bread of my childhood and I liked it then. How fun was it squishing it into a ball! I still like it. I've tried to enjoy all sorts of heartier breads once I grew up and some aren't bad and they have their places, but for grilled-cheese I want soft white bread.

I was thinking (briefly) about this the other day. It's less the soft-white bread itself, in a way, but the way that it toasts. Soft, white bread makes exquisitely delicate toast, golden and crispy on the outside, light, airy, melt-in-the-mouth soft inside.

Coupled with the APPC-FP and pan-fried in some butter until the outside is all golden crisp and the inside is all melty and mildly cheesy–it's a culinary masterpiece.

Posted on May 14, 2010 at 23.36 by jns · Permalink
In: All, Food Stuff, Personal Notebook

One Response

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  1. Written by Guanaco
    on Saturday, 15 May 2010 at 10.52
    Permalink

    YES!!!

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