How to Make the Best Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Yahoo Food

Cowgirl Creamery is an artisanal cheese shop and cheese producer in northern California. Helmed by friends and former chefs Sue Conley and Peggy Smith, it’s a favorite of the food world; Sue and Peggy have such a following, they published a cookbook this year. Below, they share some grilled cheese tips from that book.

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Photo: Hirsheimer & Hamilton

The cowgirls’ tips for great grilled cheese sandwiches:

* The best-tasting sandwiches combine three cheeses. For a creamier cheese middle, make one of them a soft cheese such as fromage blanc. This acts as a suspen­sion; just as egg whites suspend the heavier particles in a soufflé, so does the soft cheese suspend the grated cheese and distribute it more evenly across the bread. The end result is a much creamier filling.

* Think about pairing cheeses to complement texture. For example, if one of the cheeses you’re using is hard, such as Parmesan, use another cheese that’s more elastic, such as mozzarella.

* Find a bread that enhances your sandwiches. We like baguettes or levain, but use your favorite bread. Bread that is slightly stale is better; because it’s not as moist, it browns better.

* Use regular butter, not clarified butter. At Sidekick, our lunch counter in the Ferry Building in San Fran­cisco, we started out using clarified butter but found that regular butter made tastier sandwiches. Those milk solids add to the flavor.

* Use a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet or any large pan with a heavy bottom. Set your pan over medium-low to medium heat. Because you’re cooking with regular butter, you don’t want a too-hot pan, or the butter will burn.

* Don’t skimp on the cheese; use a good amount. It’s okay if the cheese filling spills out onto the hot pan. Those crunchy cheese bits around the edge of the sandwich are always welcome.

* Cooking a grilled cheese takes longer than you’d expect. Count on at least 3 minutes on each side.

Excerpted from Cowgirl Creamery Cooks by Sue Conley and Peggy Smith (Chronicle Books, 2014).

Cheeses good for grilling:

Taleggio, Parmesan, Havarti, Brie

You can make grilled cheese without a stovetop

There’s one ingredient that’s the key to a better grilled cheese sandwich…

What’s your favorite cheese to put in a grilled cheese sandwich?