Grilled Cheese

On the Friday following Shaylee's food requests, I made us grilled cheeses for dinner.  I have been keeping a dinner log, photos and all.  This grilled cheese dinner was so simple that I failed to photograph any of it.  Looking back on it, I should have, because for such a simple sandwich, I have this obsession with all of the details--it's probably the most ritualistic way to make a grilled cheese.  The perfect grilled cheese must be on rye bread, preferably with the seeds.  And, of course, the butter is melted in the pan, not once, but twice, for each side of the sandwich.  It just has to be that way in order for the sandwich to be crisp and buttery all over....none of that buttering-the-bread-beforehand nonsense.  I always cook a grilled cheese over surprisingly low heat (med-low).  I always have the lid on it while cooking the first half of the sandwich.  Low heat and a lid allow time for the cheese to melt perfectly, without burning the bread--there is, in fact, a perfect golden brown that a grilled creese should be.  When it comes time to flip, the sandwich is removed from the pan, the heat is lowered even more, and another pad of butter is tossed in.  Sometimes, I lift the pan off of the burner if I see that the melting process is occurring too rapidly.  Who wants scorched butter?  Once the butter is melted to my satisfaction, I place the grilled cheese back into the pan; no lid necessary this time; the lid makes the newly crisped, buttery bread soggy.  Once the sandwich is in place, I crank up the heat a bit, since all I'm trying to do at this point is brown up the bread.   The sandwich is closely monitored and removed at just the right time.  The grilled cheese is always plated with the side that was cooked last, facing up.  Just like the lid of the pan, the plate creates condensation when in contact with the hotter side of the sandwich, creating a soggy piece of bread.  No one wants that.

Call this a tutorial on how to make the perfect grilled cheese, or call it an attempt to justify my rituals surrounding this simple comfort food.  You should really just try it my way once, and then you can decide.