Kearns - Melt

Do you remember the first time you slowly sank your teeth into a gooey grilled cheese? Maybe you were home from school on a snow day or enjoying a weekend spent with your mom or dad. Your sandwich was probably made with white bread, American cheese, and a little bit of butterdelicious!

You may not be a child anymore, but heres some great news: The traditional grilled cheese sandwich has grown up with you! Todays grilled cheese sandwiches are filled with out-of-this world ingredients that take the humble grilled cheese to a whole new level. Looking for a savory sandwich? In , where ingredients like pomegranate, brie, bacon, and sea salt caramel reign supreme!

Whether youre a meat lover, a veggie lover, or a lover of anything ooey, gooey, and in-your-face amazing, the flavor-packed grilled cheese sandwiches found throughout this book will give you what youre looking for in a big way!

Grilled cheeses time has arrivedand so has yours! Enjoy!

When you first think of cooking grilled cheese sandwiches, you may picture only the basics: Smear butter over each slice of bread, throw a slice of cheese in there, and voil. But even though creating a truly amazing grilled cheese isnt hard, here you will find special steps to make your grilled cheese even more impressive.

Here are two mistakes people make. Some folks just smear on the butter, which causes the bread to fall apart and creates an unevenly cooked sandwich. Others melt the butter in the saut pan and then plop in the bread and filling, which wont create the crunchy, golden brown bread that is synonymous with the grilled cheese sandwich. Instead, you should always melt the butter first and then spread it on the outsides of both slices of your desired bread before it even touches the pan. This will ensure that the bread cooks evenly and will provide that much-loved crunchy texture that really makes a grilled cheese something special.

Note:All sandwiches in this cookbook were created with Land OLakes Salted Whipped Butter found in a tub, an ingredient that has withstood the test of time through many generations of kitchen use.

Lets be honest: There are a lot of different types of cheeses out there, some of which you may not even have heard about or gotten up the courage to try. But when you try different types of cheeses, you increase the odds of taking your sandwiches from run-of-the-mill to remarkable. Be adventurous and try something new. Your taste buds will thank you.

Cheddar cheese is one of the most popular cheeses in the world, but you may not have tried its alter ego, sharp Cheddar. In most instances, sharp Cheddar provides more bite and overall flavor than mild Cheddar and will help you create a much better grilled cheese sandwich. If youre hesitant, just give sharp Cheddar one try; youll likely become a believer. But if its just too much for your taste buds, simply replace sharp Cheddar with your favorite variety of Cheddar in the recipes throughout.

Dessert cheeses, such as mascarpone or crme frache, are limited in number and may be intimidating if you havent really worked with them before. The dessert cheeses differences in texture and flavor profiles are small but their uses are many. Some are thick and chunky while others are runny and need a delicate touch when spreading on a grilled cheese. Ease your way into the world of dessert grilled cheeses by trying out some of the recipes in . Then take things to the next level and use these cheeses to create your own unique, dessert grilled cheese sandwiches.

If youre at the supermarket and youre not sure what brands of cheese to buy, dont get overwhelmed. Some favorites include Mackenzie Creamery, Kerrygold, Barbers 1833, Tillamook, Cabot, and Cowgirl Creamery.

Note:Cheese is available in all different forms, which makes it hard to tell you exactly how cheese should be handled. However, in most situations, sliced cheeses do not melt evenly and may cause your hoped-for perfect grilled cheese to fall a bit short. To get around this meltdownor lack thereofit is important to shred the desired cheese prior to cooking, which allows for more even melting and an amazing sandwich.

The best way to cook up an over-the-top, ooey, gooey grilled cheese is to use a nonstick saut pan, which leaves the bread crunchy and the cheese perfectly melted. Other options, such as a sandwich press, cast iron pan, or even a grill, are all great and valid choices, but the nonstick pan outperforms the rest. Use it and use it often.

When it comes right down to it, each and every person is capable of putting a unique spin on a grilled cheese sandwich with those little touches that make a sandwich personal and special. In this cookbook, youll find some pretty amazingand inventivegrilled cheese sandwiches, but dont stop here. Take this knowledge and run with it to create unique sandwiches that are so unreal that they havent even been thought of yet. And if youre not feeling all that imaginativeor if you cant find the breads or cheeses called for in the recipes in the storesdont worry about it! Check out the substitution appendix at the back of the book. Your grilled cheese will always reign supremeand you wont regret a bit of it.