Basic Grilled Cheese, just the fact's ma'am.

Oh, the variations are all splendid. This time though, I wanted something basic. Give me some good cheese and some good bread. Melt that together with some butter to make it all toasty and crispy. That’s what I craved. Nick, over at Macheesmo, has made a few delicious variants, and I’ll undoubtedly eventually post a few variants of my own too. This time I stuck to the essence of bread and cheese–simple comfort food.

You could go with American white bread and a slice of individually wrapped yellow colored cheese. But that would be silly. Don’t be silly. Pick up some good quality sandwich bread–better still, get a good artisan-style loaf, like a French sourdough or an Italian loaf. And get some good cheese. I’d recommend a Gruyère, like Comté or Emmentaler, or a cheddar–please get a good cheddar though, something aged, with some tang and flavor. This time I picked up some Emmentaler. I like the mild grassy, earthy flavors that gruyere style cheese contributes; it pairs very nicely with the sour notes of a French loaf.

Toasty, warm, cheesy goodness.

The best trick to getting an evenly melted cheese is to shred it and pile it on. Don’t buy preshredded though, those are often dusted with a non-stick powder to keep it from clumping. That powder can affect the way the cheese melts and sometimes make it grainy. If you can’t shred it yourself, cut thin slices. The other thing I recommend is to butter and toast both sides of the bread–I love my butter.

Without varying drastically from the essentials, are there any variations you like? A slice of tomato perhaps? Mustard? I wanted to keep this basic this time, but let me know what you suggest!

No nonsense grilled cheese
It really couldn’t be simpler, but here is the “recipe” anyway.
Ingredients
Cheese (I used Emmentaller), shredded
butter, softened
sliced bread

Directions
1. Heat a heavy skilled over medium-high heat until hot. Meanwhile, butter both sides of bread.
2. Put bread into hot skillet (lower heat if needed so it doesn’t burn) and allow to toast for 30-90 seconds (it’s OK to peek under to check, just don’t play with it).
3. Flip one side over, pile cheese on top then put the other slice of bread on top (toasted sides should now be facing the cheese). Occasionally press gently on the sandwich and cook for another 1-2 minutes, flipping half way, until cheese is melted and sandwich is golden brown and toasty.
Cut diagonally and serve while still warm.

I made this a few times and the only variation I allowed myself was to put a thin layer of good Dijon mustard inside once.

Liberte Yogurt

Liberté yogurt is the closest thing you can get to European yogurt in the US. Once I discovered it, I couldn’t get enough. It comes in full-fat and 2% fat varieties—full-fat is really the only way to go (just don’t look at the nutrition label). Perfect creaminess and mild tang make this yogurt the best you can get. Flavors are the standard fruit additions that have to be mixed with your spoon before you eat. They even make a version with six different grains mixed in for the more health conscious. The texture of these is a bit grainier (in a good way) and the overall flavor is more nutty and earthy.

Has anyone else tried any other good yogurts? Is there anything else good out there? Once I found these, I stopped my search for other yogurts, but I’m interested to see what others have found to be good.

You can see more info about Liberte at their site here, or here.

The humble chili cheese dog is perhaps one of the tastiest foods ever invented. It basically falls into the same category as comfort food. Simple, yet packed with flavor. Better yet, the customization possibilities are nearly endless. For example, the one in the image you see below has some caramelized onions tucked in.

All hail the chili-cheese dog!

An endless battles wages regarding which hot dog brand is the best. Personally, I like Hebrew National a little bit more than Nathan’s. But I’m not disappointed by either, and I haven’t had a back-to-back tasting. (Anybody up for a taste-off?) As far as the chili… you could make your own, but somehow I feel that this defeats the greatness that is a chili cheese dog. I prefer to get whatever low-cost can is available on the shelf and heat that up before pouring it onto the dog. Cheap and easy is king.