30/30 the canadian grilled cheese

What makes a grilled cheese sandwich 'Canadian', for me, is two things:

1. The sandwich must be closed during the grilling process. Over here a grilled cheese is often open, with the cheese melted onto the bread from a heat coming from above. In the Canadian grilled cheese, the cheese melts between the bread as it toasts. Usually the bread is compressed during the toasting process, to accelerate the melting process.

2. The outsides of the bread is buttered, which makes it a little crispy and a lot tasty.

The only way to do this without a grilling machine is in a frying pan or skillet, pressing down with a spatula. It's pretty calorie intensive, so this is really a very occasional treat, but man is it delicious!

ingredients:

2 pieces bread, about 1/2 thick or more
strong cheddar, enough to cover one of those pieces, sliced

method:

Make sure your ingredients are prepped before you begin, as this is pretty quick once you get rolling.

In a wide-ish skillet, melt the butter at medium heat. Tip to spread it around, the way you would when making pancakes. Lay both pieces of bread down. You don't want them burning or sticking, so keep them moving by gently shaking the pan.

Once they have absorbed a bit of the butter (1 minute), turn down the heat and on one of the pieces arrange the cheese. Make sure it does not hang over the side! Overlapping is fine. Place the second piece, toasted-side up, over the cheese. Take care not to jar any of the cheese.

Let sit for about 1 minute, to begin the melting process. Then, take your spatula and press firmly. If the corners of the crust are resistant, concentrate on them before flipping. After about 15 seconds, flip and press again. Continue pressing and flipping until the cheese is melted (under 2 minutes total) then remove from the pan. There might be some overspill, so take care not to leave a stringy cheesy melted trail, which is a pain to clean up.

Best served with home-made tomato soup or chocolate milk.

Comments

[Camille]

Mmmmm...I could go for a good old-fashioned grilled cheese!

(Making a list of all the places I want to visit while I'm in London—just found out two of our friends from Galway are coming along too, one of whom is a knitter, yay!)

[Robyn]

Yep, that's American grilled cheese, too. Except I just butter the outside of the bread instead of melting it in the pan. Also, if you want to just DIE, sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese on the outside, buttered bread and other cheeses melted inside. It adds a great somethin' to it!

Strangely, after this post, I am craving pancakes, not grilled cheese.

[Jen]

Yummy... I'd recommend putting mustard in with the cheese (the hot dog kind) and dipping it in hot sauce...

[Walterknitty]

That's the kind of grilled cheese I grew up with here in the States. Try grilled cheese with some dried oregano and a good thick slice of tomato. I've been craving grilled cheese and tomato soup.

[jane]

Yum yum.... that looks SO GOOD!!

We do strange things with toasted cheese here, you are right. I don't much like cheese on toast and nor do I like the funny sandwich toasters here which crimp the edges of the sandwich shut (suspicious, I always think)... BUT... I do like welsh rabbit! Have you tried it? There are a million varieties but I do mine with a bechamel type sauce with a bit of good beer in it (true story) and a bit of (veggie) worcester sauce, and lots and lots of grated cheddar... put on toast and then grilled. It puffs up and browns as it grills, and it really is yummy.

[nora]

this is also the only type of grilled cheese sandwich I know (and I really miss having a sandwich maker)! two open pieces of toast with some cheese in the middle just doesn't qualify.

[Tikabelle]

That's the only kind of grilled cheese I ever heard of! I had no idea that people did it differently across the pond; no wonder my ancestors revolted! Open-faced, butter-less grilled cheese, indeed!! How will the English ever know the challenge of perfectly melted cheese without burned bread? Where's the sport in that, I ask you?

Clearly it's time for me to go to bed. It's your fault I'm craving grilled cheese now.