This Is the Only Way You Should Be Making Grilled Cheese

Welcome back to Take It Easy.

There are times in my cooking when I want the purest, freshest, cleanest, most genetically unmodified ingredients. There are times when I don’t.

This recipe for what I will call my perfect grilled cheese is one of those times.

I’m forgoing an aged cheddar from a grass-fed cow or some other high end dairy product and opting for slices of Velveeta inside my sourdough bread instead. Velveeta’s pristine ooziness and effortless melt-ability is exactly what I want in a grilled cheese. To balance out the one-note flavor of the cheese, this sandwich gets a light but substantial layer of parmesan cheese grated on the bread as it cooks in the skillet. The parm crisps as it cooks on the skillet, providing a salty, umami flavor and shattering crust.

This sandwich takes major inspiration from my one and only Eric Kim, my favorite recipe developer on this planet. His creamy macaroni and cheese recipe uses half a slab of Velveeta, alongside cheddar and pecorino. After making the dish for a Super Bowl party, I found myself with an unused slab of Velveeta and a week’s worth of grilled cheeses to make out of it.

The success of this sandwich depends on a couple of tricks and factors, like slathering mayo on the sourdough’s exterior, making sure the bread you are using is frozen, cradling the skillet’s heat, patience, and parmesan.

Nina’s Perfect Grilled Cheese

Most people understand the order of operations for a grilled cheese. I will get into my method, but you probably already know how to make one of these sandwiches. The cooking process is familiar, but the treatment of each individual ingredient is what matters most.

Ingredients:

• Butter: I prefer unsalted butter but use what you have.

• Sourdough bread straight out of the freezer: If you don’t already, you should be freezing your bread. It lasts way longer in the freezer and stays fresh as ever. The bread, as it cooks on the skillet, retains its moisture and doesn’t dry out as it faces the skillet’s heat—no need to worry about eating a slightly frozen grilled cheese; cold bread warms up almost instantly. You should also be using sourdough bread, mainly because it is a sturdy bread with just enough sugar to lightly caramelize as it cooks, unlike a white bread, which has a tendency to burn quickly. There’s also the slightly sour flavor that works wonderfully with a grilled cheese.

• Mayo: You are going to put mayo on the outside of your sandwich. This quick slather of spread allows the sandwich to become gorgeously golden and, unless you are cooking it on high heat, rarely burns. The conventional grilled cheese method slathers butter on the outside of bread. Butter has a much lower smoke point (the point at which a fat burns) than mayo, so putting a whole lot of butter on your sandwich can be a bit of a risk if you aren’t closely nursing the heat. Mayo is the foolproof solution to your bread-burning issues.

• Block of Velveeta: It’s melty! It’s nostalgic! You cut it into large chunks and you find yourself looking at a layer of molten cheese in your sandwich. What more could you want? American cheese could also work, but I’m impartial to Velveeta.

• Parmesan: As your sandwich cooks and as you flip it for even browning, you will grate parmesan cheese on top. Crispy, savory, crunchy cheese crust. Yum!

Preparation:

1. Slice Velveeta into 1/4 inch slices. Slice enough pieces to cover the surface area of your sandwich. Squeeze a light layer of mayonnaise on the skillet-facing sandwich sides and spread. It should thinly but fully coat the bread.

2. Turn your nonstick, (preferably) cast iron skillet on medium heat. Drop a tablespoon of butter into the skillet. Wait for it to melt a little (it should fully dissolve and not yet be bubbling) before you stick the bread, mayo side down, on the skillet. Add your cheese and the other piece of bread, mayo side up. Using a cheese grater, grate a generous layer of parmesan on top of the bread. The mayo will act as an adhesive to the grated cheese. It’s ok if you have some straggly strings of parmesan that fall on the skillet. Those are crunchy treats! Let the bread cook for 4-5 minutes, checking and turning down the heat if it begins to brown too quickly or wisps of smoke appear. Once the bread slightly bronzes, flip the sandwich and grate another layer of cheese on top. Let this side fully brown, 3-4 minutes. Flip once more to develop a quick, crispy parmesan crust, around 1 minute. Transport sandwich to a plate, cut, and enjoy.

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Thank you for reading! I know you’ll enjoy this recipe. Now, for my favorite end-of-newsletter tradition, it’s time for New York Bite Spotlight!

New York Bite Spotlight

• Punchline Juice Bar’s battery smoothie: This smoothie works magic on me and is what I opt for on a sunny stroll. The smoothie includes peanut, ginseng, sea moss, and a couple other healthful ingredients I don’t quite remember and am having trouble finding online.