Do you mean this?

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2010/08/09/grilled-cheese-please/?hpt=Mid

dcarch

Getting to know you â«Âgetting to know all about you â«â«

Yes dcarch - that is the article I was trying to post a link to. How on earth did a link that is several weeks old get pulled in? Yes - I think the gremlins are at work.

Thank you for posting the correct link to a strange article. BTW - just for the record - I put butter on the outside of the bread and cook the sandwich in a non-stick pan.

What about you?

Teresa--that's how I do it too.

Alton Brown heats up two round cast iron griddles, puts the uncooked sandwich on one and places the other hot griddle on top of the sandwich and cooks both sides at once.

Long story.

I enjoy butter, I have no problem eating butter, but I found myself not using butter much. It not that I am on a diet. It's kind of a habit.

One stick of butter will generally last me 6 months. Once in a while I will binge. I will use up one stick of butter in one meal.

dcarch

I looked at the poll results. Who would think there would be so many ways to make a grilled cheese sandwich? Butter on the inside of the bread?????? No, no, no!

Good for Alton......I'm not one to make more pans to clean! :-)

I butter the outside of the bread and use the George Foreman grill. :)

A very small pat of butter in a cast iron skillet, no butter inside the sandwich. Cook slowly so the cheese will get sufficiently melty but bread will be brown. When ready to turn the sandwich add another sliver of butter so the other side of the sandwich may benefit too. Not enough butter to make it greasy.

Somewhere I saw it recommended to use mayonnaise instead of butter on the outside of the bread. I intended to try that, but have not made grilled cheese sandwiches for a very long time.

Jim

We have a local cheese place (Natural Pastures if you want to Google) and they make a Brie and a Camembert type cheese that is a specific size round. Not small, not large.

I was at a home show type affair and asked the guy why that size (its an odd size compared to other cheeses of that type) and his answer was if you slice one in half bagel style, they are the perfect size and shape to make two grilled cheese sandwiches.

And he was right...they are.

What beverlyal said. Well, with maybe a larger pat. :D

LOVE grilled cheese sandwiches. Rye or sourdough. Any kind of cheese that will melt, but Tilamook sharp cheddar usually.

Once in a while, I'll add some sliced tomato, if I have a nice, vine ripened one, or some grilled onions. Or, I'll add some ham or salami for my husband. But for the most part I need nothing but the cheese, bread and butter. Mmmmm.

Butter outside the bread.
Unless I'm in a hurry and the butter is hard.
Then, it is melted in the pan.

Bread? Rye with caraway seeds,
Or Oat-Nut bread.
White only if there is Sourdough bread on hand.

Cheese? Definitely NOT any American Pastuerized!
Depending on whatever.
Tilamoook extra sharp cheddar.
Or Monteray Jack.
Or Marble Jack.
Or a mild cheddar.
Sometimes Swiss.
Extra sharp white cheddar.
Or a combination of any of the above.

To make it "over the top":
A very good deli ham, shaved. Just a few slices.
And a bit of shaved sweet onion, raw.

Grill slowly so the cheese gets really melted through.
And runny , or stringy.
If it 'drips' over the edges of the bread and gets crispy where it hits the pan, all the better!

Now I'm hungry and it's not lunchtime yet. . . .

Rusty

I think I must be in a very small group that Hates grilled cheese sandwiches. I've made many over the years for Matthew but I've never eaten one myself. They just don't appeal to me. I think it has something to do with the fact that I like both sides of my toast toasted. And well toasted at that. I'll eat toast with melted cheese occasionally, but never a grilled cheese sandwich.

When making them though I always butter both sides of the bread.

I love grilled cheese sandwiches!!

Butter on the outside of the bread only. If it's too hard to spread I usually do a quick soften in the microwave. Extra sharp cheddar cheese on sourdough is the very best. But I also like muenster cheese in the middle, or gouda, or swiss. Jack'll do if that's all I have. Pepper jack is good too. And if I'm out of sourdough, other breads are good too. Tolja, I just love grilled cheese sandwiches!

I prefer them unadulterated, as in, no tomatoes or other fillings besides the cheese. A nice fresh salad with a very light salad dressing (oil, lemon & salt for example) on the side makes a perfect meal.

I make grilled cheese sandwiches, mostly for Ashley. I'll eat them and once in a while I even enjoy them, if I have some good Dubliner or an extra sharp Cheddar and I'm just as likely to put some shaved ham or pastrami in there as not. Ashley likes a combo of provolone and cheddar. I want homemade bread, any type, and I butter the outside of each piece of bread. Ashley likes squishy white bread.

I'm one of those very odd people who aren't crazy for cheese. I'll eat a bit, I don't mind it, but I fail to see why it needs to cover every surface of every food I eat. That's OK, Elery eats enough for both of us, but he doesn't care for grilled cheese.

Oh, and it has to be extremely toasty on both sides, but not scorched and the cheese has to melt enough to string out when you cut the sandwich in half. The WonderWeiner used to love them and I made them regularly, just for him. Cooper is kind of "eh" about it, he doesn't care for bread. (grin)

The grandkids love 'em, with squishy white bread and those slices of artificial "cheese product"...

Annie

White bread, lots of melted butter in the pan, drop in the sandwich and get side A well coated, remove from pan and add more butter if needed before cooking with side B down. Half way to done flip and put side A on the bottom. If I don't butter side A first there may not be enough butter in the pan for the second side. OK to add tomato and/or crisp bacon immediately after removing form the pan. When I worked in a nursing home there was a resident who insisted on a toasted and not grilled sandwich. The bread was toasted first and then the cheese was added and the sandwich was microwaved until the cheese melted. I tried that way to avoid dirtying a pan but I found the samdwich terribly bland.
Nancy

Nancy, I've done toasted cheese sandwiches but they were always open faced, a slice of cheese on a piece of toast with lots of freshly ground black pepper!

It's definitely not grilled cheese, but it's not bland either.

Annie

I used to have a Rowenta toaster that came with an insert with flat griddle-like nonstick sides, not a wire cage, that would hold two slices of bread and whatever filling one wanted. I could make a toasted something sammy with no extra calories from the butter. It was fiddly and would fall open unless held "just so." Eh. Seemded like a better idea than it was.

Bring on the good aged cheddar and sourdough bread! But really, I'd eat a grilled Wonder bread and American cheese almost as happily. Tomato soup anyone?

Ann, I got my fill of grilled cheese sandwiches years ago too. I still make them for the kids when they come over. Katie thinks she has to have one for her breakfast every morning.

Ever use a little bacon drippings instead of butter on the outside of the bread? Very good!

My favorite is two slices of cheese and very thinly sliced tomato inside, on white bread. Use soft butter to butter the outside, and grill on both sides in a nonstick pan. Buttering the bread makes a better, crustier sandwich than just putting butter in the pan, imo. Eat with dill pickles.

Did you ever have a grilled cheese sandwich made in a Toas-tite? When I was a kid, my friend's mom always made grilled cheese in a Toas-Tite and I loved them, especially the hard edge. My mom just made them on the griddle.

I found a Toas-Tite in a thrift shop so now I have my own. I don't use it much, but it brings back memories.

I really love grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches.

Here is a link that might be useful: Toas-Tite

Pam, we have some of those, but we call them "hobo pie makers", LOL. The girls loved them when camping, filled the bread with pizza fillings or used pound cake and apple pie filling instead of bread and cheese.

I never cared much for them because I'd get the outside too done while the inside was still cold, I couldn't "peek" to see when the sandwich was ready!

Annie

OMG, I always knew my mother was a terrible cook and hated to cook, but this is the ultimate. She had a Toas-tite when I was growing up and used it all of the time, but I never knew it was supposed to be used for toasting things until now. She only used it to cut the crust off of my sandwiches and make them round! Wow, I could have had hot meals all of those years... who knew! I can't wait to tell her what that gadget was really supposed to be used for. I've even told my DH about the thing and how dumb I always thought it was (buying this big thing just to cut the crust off of bread). It was a real pain too, because the bread would always get stuck in it. I guess if it was toasted that wouldn't have happened, though. Amazing!!

Jim I always use mayo on the outside of the bread cause its so easy to spread.

I like the Toas-Tite more for the childhood memories than the actual product. However, I am going to dust it off and give it a try today just for the heck of it.

There are a bunch of them for sale on ebay, but one is enough for me!