Comment by js2 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by js2 | Hacker News Reader

> This is not a column where I will carp and complain—about air-fryer grilled cheeses, or fancy gourmet grilled cheeses, or Kraft-single grilled cheeses, or the proper application of butter, or the appropriate pan, or the degree and nature of the condiments. To me, each grilled cheese is enough, and more than enough. In this world so full of slaughter and fire, where doubt and monstrosity abound, this much is clear to me: the grilled cheese is a small and perfect thing.

Amen.

I love me a grilled cheese sandwich and I'm not picky about it, but if you want to take the time to put in the extra effort, the following recipe is the best grilled cheese you'll ever make:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020107-french-onion-gri...

If you have some fresh tomatoes on hand, this is almost as tasty and a lot easier (and not technically grilled cheese, since no grilling is involved, nor a sandwich unless you want to call it open faced):

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024469-tomato-cheddar-t...

I never understood the appeal of grilled cheese and thought it's mostly because every time I see it it's made with toast bread (???) or brioche (hard to get a decent brioche here in Poland) but I can see a variation made with what I would call bread.

Will give it a go.

> I never understood the appeal of grilled cheese

What's so hard to understand? It's cheese. It's melted. It's breaded. Why are cheese sticks so popular? They're cheese. They're melted. They're breaded. Why are quesadillas so popular? They're cheese. They're melted. They're breaded.

I don't think cheese sticks or quesadillas are all that popular in Poland.

I've never had a cheese stick or seen one in a supermarket (UK). I assume from your description it's like a fish finger but filled with cheese.

That sounds like a Poland problem not a my problem to bend a phrase. However, you have cheese in Poland? You can melt cheese in Poland? You have breading in Poland? Why have you NOT made a breaded melty cheesy thingy yet? Like seriously, go become the first person in Poland to do this and become a national hero.

Not sure what you mean by toast bread, but you can't beat a good grilled cheese sandwich. My wife just makes them out of a cheap brioche bread with cheddar and American cheese. They're great when dipped in a tomato soup.

The brioche bread: https://www.walmart.com/ip/ART-BRI-BKY-BRD-20OZ/19883411944

Take a bread that makes a good toast (to you).

Take a cheese that is soft, mellow (unless you really love pungent) and melts well under heat.

Combine such that the bread ends up perfectly toasted and the cheese in the middle melted at the same time.

I sometimes wonder if a sufficiently buttered initial toast side would make for a good inner face for the cheese to go against such that the sandwich might hold up for that much longer.

PREVENT the sandwich from sitting face down on any surface and eat while still quite warm. When I still at these frequently I'd either do it myself or ask for the sandwich to be plated such that the exposed surface area was maximized to allow the steam to escape and prevent soggy sandwiches.

I always cut diagonal and lean the halves against each other, balanced on edge, with the diagonal facing up. No soggy side, center cools faster, and contents don’t leak as much before picking up.

I don't do Polish at all, but: The pictures I see of chleb tostowy pszenny do look right. (We just call that "bread" in the US. It's inexpensive, and we tend to have some in every kitchen. Ours is probably much sweeter but that doesn't matter.)

With that bread: Make a plain cheese sandwich with whatever melty cheese you enjoy. Then put butter on the outside (on both sides of the sandwich) using whatever butter you like.

Put that buttered cheese sandwich in a frying pan (patelnia uniwersalna) at ~medium heat.

Do not walk away from it. Flip it over every now and then to cook it evenly and see how it is doing.

When the cheese gets all melted and goopy at about the same time that the bread changes color and becomes toasted, then you did it right. Cut it in half and eat it.

If you didn't do it right, then that's fine too. Cut it in half and eat it anyway.

(Repeat regularly until perfection is reached. You'll know it when you find it.)

Chałka will work just fine if you remove excess crumble. Lidl sells “butter” buns/rolls and those could work too. Get yourself two thick slices of decent cheese and some cheap processed kraft cheese slices. Put one slice of processed cheese between two slices of good cheese. Fry the whole sandwich in a little bit of butter until golden brown but not burned on both sides. Goes well with pickles, sour kraut, mayonnaise, ketchup, hot sauce etc.

My secret is paprika powder. It changes the whole flavor profile. A fair amount is needed, and it needs to be pretty fresh powder, not something that's sat in the cupboard for two years.

Alton Brown's technique [1] of using two skillets is also great if (like me) you don't have a panini press. You put the sandwich in one skillet, heated, then put the bottom of the second skillet on top.

[1] https://altonbrown.com/recipes/perfect-grilled-cheese/

My secret ingredient comes from my grandmother, and is always controversial and polarizing when I mention it:

Raisins.

It seems like something that should not work, but it does work.

My dad used to make something similar to that second link when we were kids. A slice of bread, some mayo, tomato slices, salt and pepper, top with American cheese. Pop it in the oven on a cookie sheet until the bread is toasty and cheese is melted. It's quite good - but as you said, one has to have fresh tomatoes. A grocery store tomato will not cut it if you're making those!

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