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Friday, January 11, 2008

One is right, the other is wrong wrong wrong

Grilled Cheese: American Cheese or Cheddar?

18 comments:

  1. Duuuuude!

    PepperJack! with tomatos.

    Did your kid piss you off about making dinner?

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  2. Confession: sometimes--although it's been years since I last did it--I have a craving for a grilled cheese sandwich made with... Velveeta.

    (Hangs head in shame.)

    I know it's not even cheese, it's, it's "pasteurized cheese product". But... it's so good.

    A more serious answer to your question, of course, is that you can use all sorts of cheese for a "grilled cheese sandwich" depending on what's in your fridge, whether you're trying to make it the way your mom did, and how hoity-toity you want to be about the whole thing. I mean (looks around conspiratorially), I know that some people would say that a grilled cheese made with Brie isn't technically a grilled cheese sandwich, but... melted Brie (head locks back in a Homer Simpson drooling position).

    I close by taking issue with the implied thesis of your title: melted cheese (or pasteurized cheese product) transcends right and wrong, good and evil, and your earthbound "morals." Faugh!

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  3. PepperJack! with tomatos. That wasn't one of the choices.

    And we had Shepherd's Pie for dinner.

    I was just wondering. Me: Cheddar, Tillimook sharp, with brown mustard on sourdough.

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  4. Also Tillamook sharp cheddar here - two slices of it - on whole wheat bread, made with real butter.

    Processed cheese is not a food, it's a petroleum byproduct. ;)

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  5. I close by taking issue with the implied thesis of your title: melted cheese (or pasteurized cheese product) transcends right and wrong, good and evil, and your earthbound "morals."

    Argued like a true lawyer, always in a moral 'gray' area. But outside the legal profession things are more black and white - cheese product = evil, cheddar = true happiness.

    Velvetta? Augh! have you no taste buds at all?

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  6. As much as I hate to admit it, for grilled cheese, it has to be American, and it has to go with a bowl of Campbell's cream of tomato soup.

    Other soups? No good.

    Other cheeses? Just not right.

    American cheese it the only one that has both the correct taste and texture for dipping in tomato soup. Other cheeses are too melty, and you have to concentrate to make sure you don't get melted cheese strings. And that is TOTALLY wrong, because you have to be able to eat grilled cheese with one hand, otherwise the pages of your book get all greasy.

    And to be even more exacting, the book to read while eating grilled cheese and tomato soup (with a glass of cold milk to drink) should be a mystery. Preferably Sherlock Holmes, but any mystery will do.

    And that is simply The Way Things Should Be.

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  7. Oh, thank god, you said "cheddar."

    I thought this might be one of those trick questions. I hate American cheese, even more than I hate diet soda. I understand they are an acquired taste, but why for the love of all that's holy would I choose to acquire that taste unless I absolutely had to?

    I've heard that purists believe that the only true Philly steak and cheese is made with Velveeta, but I stand by the more modern recipe, with Provolone. With mushrooms.

    [Homeresque drooling...]

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  8. provolone and mushrooms, that I can do. Velvetta and peppers, no, no, no a thousands times no.

    I can't eat either tomatoes or peppers, both make me ill and I hate the smell and taste of them anyway (though I can eat certain tomato sauces, so pizza is ok providing there's not too much sauce). And I just can't bring my self to eat velveeta or cheese in a can or stadium nacho cheese or any other pasteurized cheese 'product' - I just find them revolting, sorry Eric. For me, the traditional philly cheese steak is an abomination - peppers and gloppy yellow cheese product. Yack!

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  9. Whatever cheese is in the fridge, which is not going to be a processed cheese food. Depends on my mood, but extra sharp cheddar with sourdough is always yummy. This weeks "use of the cheese chunks before they get scary" macaroni and cheese had cheddar, gorgonzola, brie, and parmigiana in it.

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  10. Speaking of cheese --

    Tolovana 2008 is up on my moribund blogger page.

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  11. Cheddar cheese with some kind of white bread. I like pickles on top - dill. My wife has a thing about making sure the cheese is covering every square millimeter of the bread. She claims every bite should have cheese. She gets very creative with her cheese placement.

    We usually do tomato soup with our sandwiches. But I guess you won't be doing that.

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  12. I'm with Michelle K on this one, although for me the dipping is in ketchup rather than tomato soup.

    Comfort food. Yum.

    And petroleum-based cheese products=delish. Stadium nachos, grilled cheese, jars of queso...hmm.

    But I do use the good stuff when I cook here at home. I have the best mac-n-cheese recipe ever.

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  13. I'm with Ken on the pickles thing. Dill pickles make a good cheese sandwich.

    I like kosher dills, Clausen preferably. And I usually have Chicken Noodle soup with mine, because even though I actually can eat tomato soup, I usually don't.

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  14. I have had some good results with cheddar on grilled cheese. (Mozzerella workes well too) The only cheese I have not found to be desireable on a grilled cheese sandwich is swiss- for some reason a grilled swiss cheese sandwich just doesn't taste right.

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  15. Ken - use emmenthaler and a good mustard for a good swiss cheese sandwich. Or raclette. Some grilled sausages and a good beer on the side. Yum. Dang it, this is making me hungry, and I need to head to bed, I have lots of chores tomorrow.

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  16. I use swiss with ham and pesto on panini. I don't have a sandwich press, but I usually press the sandwich between a pair of cast iron pans.

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  17. OK I did a quick glance at all the comments and the closest to agree with is Eric with the Velveeta. Nuthin melts better than a processed cheeze food. I used to use the government cheese food years ago and though mostly oil and geletin it held up ok too. I will have to leave now... Amy Devers is on the DIY network. Nothing like a cutie with really good tools and skills.

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  18. All these years I've known you, Beastly, and never once suspected you where a processed cheesehead. I do recall that there was the occasional box of velveeta around our house in Spain, but I guess I though that was for killing off la cucarachas.

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