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Grilled Cheese Sandwich

4.4

(28)

Image may contain Food Toast Bread French Toast Burger Drink Juice Beverage and Orange Juice
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A perennial favorite: soft melted cheese and pressed, buttery toast.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    1 Sandwich

Ingredients

2 slices Cheddar, American, or Swiss cheese
2 slices white bread
2 tablespoons butter

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Put the cheese between the slices of bread. Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a skillet or grill and when melted add the sandwich. Gently press down with a spatula once or twice during the grilling. When one side is golden, add the remaining tablespoon of butter, turn the sandwich over, and brown.

  2. Grilled Cheese with Bacon.

    Step 2

    Fry 3 slices bacon until cooked but not crisp. Pat dry of excess fat, add on top of the cheese, and grill as directed.

  3. Grilled Cheese with Ham.

    Step 3

    Put 2 thin slices ham on the cheese and grill as directed. Serve with sweet pickle.

  4. Onion-Cheese Sandwich.

    Step 4

    Follow the recipe for Grilled Cheese Sandwich, but lightly coat 1 slice of bread with Dijon mustard. Sauté 3 to 4 slices onion in butter and put on top of the cheese. Cover and grill.

  5. Tomato-Cheese Sandwich.

    Step 5

    Follow the recipe for Grilled Cheese Sandwich, but add two thin slices tomato to the sandwich before grilling.

Cover of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook 1996 edition.
Excerpted by permission of Knopf from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook: Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of America's Great Classic Cookbook, copyright © 1996 by Marion Cunningham. All rights reserved. Buy the full book from Amazon or Bookshop.
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  • Great sangwich. Some of the comments here are a little extreme. It's food, folks, lighten up. I didn't give it another fork because of the greasiness imparted by all that butter. I like someone's suggested practice of buttering the exterior slices with softened butter before putting on a skillet or griddle over medium-low heat so the cheese has a chance to melt nicely. Perfect accompaniment to tomato soup. Used sharp cheddar slices from Trader Joe's.

    • duspin

    • Boston, MA

    • 11/19/2020

  • This is a decent basic recipe. The main fault I have with it is that shiny, processed "american" cheese was a suggested option. Ew!! I'll make grilled (or toasted cheese, as I knew i when I was a kid) cheese, but I'll use good cheese. However, if I've had a bad day? Grilled cheese on cheap white bread, enjoyed with a cold craft beer while in pajamas, is most excellent comfort food.

    • Pomegranate206

    • Northwest WA

    • 5/10/2014

  • How wonderful that such a simple recipe rates a unanimous 4 forks! I was so embarrassed about not knowing how to make a grilled cheese sandwich. Thank you Epicurious for not making this recipe into something it shouldn't be. This is perfection in its simplicity.

    • Anonymous

    • San Francisco, CA

    • 11/22/2008

  • What this recipe doesn't explain, and what took me a while to figure out, is that to keep the bread from charring before the cheese melts, is to cook over low-medium heat. I wish someone had told me that when I first started cooking. A burnt grilled cheese is a sad, sad thing.

    • Anonymous

    • Colorado

    • 8/16/2008

  • Just got done eating an excellent grilled cheese. I used lightly toasted wheat bread with swiss cheese, raw onion, tomato slices, and bacon. I wish I made a few of them. I buttered both sides of both slices of bread after toasting. Looking forward to doing this again. Was really good, if a little salt and pepper were added it might make it even better.

    • Anonymous

    • Madison, WI

    • 3/13/2008

  • My Hubby, for the last 30 years, has always made the most EXCELLENT grilled cheese sandwiches. He always butters the exterior of the bread slices, uses sharp cheddar cheese (once we graduated from Velvetta), grills them under the broiler (no need for 2 Tbs. butter per sandwich). Tonight we used the tomato version of this sandwich, and I particularly like the onion-cheese version. I don't think we are too "dumb" to make good toasted cheese sandwiches. I think we are the smart ones who look at additional ingredients to enhance the already good sandwich!!!

    • Anonymous

    • Alamogordo, NM

    • 2/16/2008

  • You have got to be kidding! If you need a recipe for grilled cheese you should buy frozen dinners and take out.

    • Anonymous

    • Milwaukee, WI

    • 10/24/2007

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