The Best Grilled Cheese
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Grilled cheese, like pancakes, has always troubled me in the kitchen. Without fail, the bread burns before the cheese melts. Various techniques employed over the years have improved the final product slightly, but not so much as to leave me satisfied. So when I read the r.s.v.p. section of the September Bon Appetit, which supplied a recipe for a gruyère grilled cheese from L.A.’s Lucques, I couldn’t wait to get in the kitchen.
The recipe calls for crisping country white bread slices in a skillet on one side before topping them with cheese and sautéed shallots. The open-faced halves finish cooking in the oven before being pressed together into a traditional sandwich.
It almost pains me that such a simple technique produces such a brilliant result: perfectly golden bread flanking perfectly melty cheese. This discovery made my week. I can finally check “learn how to make a grilled cheese sandwich” off my bucket list and focus on other pressing matters, like “learn how to make pancakes” … if only Lucques served brunch.
One final note: This technique would work very well for making grilled cheese for a crowd. All of the bread slices could be browned ahead of time (which would be the only time-consuming step), and the open-faced sandwiches, which cook in 8 minutes, could all be assembled on a sheet pan until game time. Lucques serves this grilled cheese with an apple and arugula salad, the perfect complement to a perfect fall meal. Perfect.
Sautéed in butter with fresh thyme, these shallots might just be the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten:
Peasant bread makes the best grilled cheese…
… really, it does.
Grilled Cheese with Apple Salad
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 2 sandwiches
Description
Source: Bon Appétit
Notes: I have never make the apple salad, though it sounds absolutely delicious and the perfect complement for such a sandwich. Also, I go with about 2 oz. of cheese per sandwich, though I can’t imagine 4 oz being so bad.
Update: I now brown the bread a little differently thanks to a tip left by Trina — thank you! — in the comments. These changes apply to step 2. First, I spread one half of each slice of bread I with mayonnaise — it doesn’t burn as easily as butter, and the bread browns evenly every time. Second, instead of using butter in the pan, I use about a tablespoon of grapeseed oil — the high smoke point prevents it from burning. Butter, of course, works, but this is my preferred method these days.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 3/4 cup 1/4-inch-thick sliced shallots
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 1/2-inch-thick white bread, peasant bread is highly recommended
- mayonnaise, see notes above
- 8 ounces Gruyère or Comté sliced 1/8-inch thick
for the apple salad:
- 2 cups arugula
- 1/2 apple (such as Pink Lady or Fuji), cut into 1/4-inch slices
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When butter begins to foam, add shallots and thyme; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon or spatula, until shallots begin to soften and caramelize, 4–5 minutes; remove from heat and set aside.
- Heat a large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Working in 2 batches, add 1 Tbsp. butter and swirl in pan to melt butter and coat bottom of pan. Spread a little mayonnaise on one side of each slice of bread. Add 2 slices of bread to pan and cook until golden brown and crisp on the bottom, 2–3 minutes. Transfer bread, toasted side down, to a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining butter and bread slices. Divide cheese evenly among bread slices; top cheese with reserved shallots.
- Place baking sheet in oven and bake until cheese is melted, 7–8 minutes.
- Combine arugula, apple slices, lemon juice, and oil in a large bowl; toss to coat and evenly distribute. Season salad to taste with salt and pepper.
- Press 2 pieces of bread together, melted cheese sides in; halve sandwich on a diagonal and place on a plate. Repeat with remaining bread slices. Divide salad between plates.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
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53 Comments on “The Best Grilled Cheese”
This looks absolutely delicious! I can’t wait to try it out!
The real question here is…is an open faced grilled cheese better than closed? Open should win. It feels like you’re enjoying double the fun.
TheDuo — I do love an open-faced sandwich, especially one in this genre. We used to spread English muffins with yellow mustard (French’s), top it with diced raw onions, top it with grated cheese and fresh cracked pepper. Broiled until melted, these open-faced sandwiches were the best!
THis is not a recipe I can resist. I think I will try it with some Canadian Oka since it melts so well.
Val — so curious about the Oka. Wonder if I can get my hands on it down here?
Looking this recipe over, it came to me…..why not slice and dice some of the apple and sauté it in the pan with the shallots? I think I’m going to give it a try!
Nora — that sounds like an amazing idea. love it.
This looks fantastic! Early on in the relationship, my bf impressed me with quite a few grilled cheese sandwiches. His technique was to brown the bread, set up the sandwich, and melt the cheese by placing it all in the oven. Always turned out great!
We now sometimes make one with slices of pear in it, an idea we got from a local restaurant. So good!
My new favorite version came from a Food52er who adapted it from a truck somewhere in Connecticut — it features sticking a sage leaf into the butter on the outside of each side; pan frying and then when both sides are done, sprinkling with a bit of grated parmesan and toasting that for a minute or two repeated on the second side. It is crisp, cheesy and the sage is fabulous. Done on relatively low heat, the cheese melts just fine…I’ve used goat gouda, comte, cheddar with equal melting success. (I’m partial to the comte…) I’ve been eating these for a couple of weeks with homemade roasted tomato soup. Perfection…
Love the idea of the shallots! Will be trying this soon!
I never thought about browning the bread first and then baking it in the oven to melt the cheese… what a genius idea. It would really work for any sort of warm toasty sandwich. I’m excited to try it!
Wow. I wouldn’t have figured this technique out on my own either. Thanks for sharing! Agree it would be great with Oka (and hope you can find it down there), but I will try it with the Comte first.
And good luck with the pancakes 🙂
(I gave up on them and just make waffles all the time instead, hehe.)
I love this post and I love all the amazing ideas in the comments; apples & shallots, open grilled cheese, sage grilled cheese, double toasted. YUM. It looks like you’ve conquered your fear, time for pancakes!
Simple and delicious
So I thought that I knew how to make grilled cheese, I mean it seems to work the way I’ve always done it, but you just rocked my world! I love how simple this technique is and especially how it would work for a crowd. Plus, melty gruyère gets me everytime!
I am salivating over your pics. And I just had dinner! This looks so yum.
Gruyère, thyme & shallots = grilled cheese swoon! Must try this ASAP!
My family’s favorite grilled cheese is my Smoked Gouda on Sourdough. Smoked Gouda doesn’t melt super quickly, so I keep the heat med-low and cover the pan with a lid to lock in as much heat as possible to speed up the melting before the bread has a chance to burn.
I saw this in Bon Appetit and thought it sounded like a winner. You have now showed us that it is!
That is exactly what I want to eat!
Yummmmmy. Just had this sucker for dinner. Delish. I already washed up the pans but I’m tempted to bust them all out again and make a second.
OK just made and consumed a second one. Wow. I think maybe one was the better choice. I don’t regret it though.
Bates, are you serious?! You are hilarious. I made them for the Staffords on their last night here. We ate very slowly so we could savor every bite. Aren’t they so good? Something about the thyme and the cheese together, and the bread is just so perfectly crisp.
Thank you for this truly fabulous grilled cheese recipe. My husband and I ate them last week and tonight we will have them again. They make grilled cheese seem so glamorous when paired with a knockout glass of wine and a salad. Thank you for all your inspiring recipes.
Kellie Ann — SO happy to hear this. And you are so right: grilled cheese can be so glamorous. We have been eating them once a week, too. So glad to hear you approve!
This looks utterly amazing… I can’t stop redaing in your blog!
Altgold — you are funny. I am loving your comments.
I made the delicious bread, then made a grilled cheese with swiss cheese and sauteed onions and mushrooms. My husband said it was the best grilled cheese he’d ever had, which is huge since he runs a blog all about cheesey thing. Thank you so much for these two recipes! I’m going through the rest of them now 🙂
This makes me so happy! I truly think the method is the best way to make a grilled cheese. I absolutely love it. So, you made the peasant bread? Love the idea of adding sautéed onions and mushrooms. And what’s your husband’s blog? I’d love to check it out. So happy he approves of the grilled cheese.
looks so delicious.. I have a question though.. I know the recipe says thyme but the herbs in the photo look like rosemary to me.. is it thyme or rosemary that goes in the sandwich?
Lena, hi! That actually is thyme. Rosemary would be good, too, but I would just caution about using too much — it can be overpowering.
One other easy way to get perfectly crispy bread making grilled cheese the traditional pan fry way……”Butter” your bread with a thin coat of mayonaise instead. It doesn’t alter the flavor at all and its golden brown and crispy every time.
So interesting! This is genius. I’m going to try. Any other tips I should know? Mediumish heat?
Trina, I have been making grilled cheese with a thin coating of mayonnaise ever since you left this comment — amazing tip! The bread never burns and it browns evenly every time. Thank you thank you!!
This looks great. I shall try to make some time this week!
clarified butter (ghee) has a higher melting point and doesn’t burn since the milk solids are removed. And it’s super delicious and easy to make!
You’re right! It’s so good — I should try that…I get lazy sometimes 🙂
My favorite grilled cheese is sourdough and jarlsberg. I grilled my bread with cheese and when it is half way through, I place lid on my pan, then pull off the heat.
I’ve also had a grilled cheese like this at one of my favorite restaurants with a french onion soup. No bread or cheese, you dip into the broth with the sandwich. Delicious!
the photos on the page has cheese, butter, bread, shallots AND rosemary not thyme The recipe says thyme.Your photographer needs to learn their herbs.
Actually, Sally, you are mistaken. That’s thyme in the photo. I am the photographer, and I know my herbs.
Your absolutely right, It’s thyme. Going to try this sandwich soon. Looks amazing.
Also, don’t be a jerk.
This comment was a bit much. I grow herbs and its thyme.
Thanks Colleen! Hope you do try the sandwich soon. It’s one of my favorites.
Cooking a grilled cheese sandwich in a pan open, with cheese and toppings on each slice of bread and COVERING with a lid or plate while they are cooking also works, and is more efficient than browning bread and then melting cheese separately . I use medium-low heat so that the bread doesn’t burn, but the lid keeps the heat in so that the cheese melts much faster. When mostly melted, you can flip one slice over onto the other for a finished sandwich.
This looks amazing but I’m confused! In the pic you have rosemary, but the recipe says thyme? Which one is it? I want to make this ASAP but want to use the right herb!
The picture is thyme actually. Use thyme — so good.
How do you get the bread to not get soggy once it’s heated and then placed on the pan?
So, are you finding it’s soggy after it comes out of the oven?
Ok, I have your peasant bread rising in the oven now. Then I will have to try the sandwich – ummmazing! I always use mayo when buttering the bread for grilled cheese. Everyone thinks I’m nuts but it works. And as for pancakes…I have been trying for years and can not get them right. And it’s funny because I can make good crepes, no problem. So why on Earth can I not make a simple pancake??
Pancakes are hard!! Right?! I find it so hard knowing when they’re done… I often flip too early. This is the recipe that has been my go-to the past few years.
Yay for this grilled cheese! Isn’t mayo amazing? Love how evenly golden it makes the bread.