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| quote: | Originally posted by Susan Sampson
Call it a designer grilled cheese.
Chef Brock Shepherd slips buffalo mozzarella, arugula and truffle oil between two slices from a custom focaccia sandwich loaf. He "griddles" it, cuts it, then prettifies it with shards of toasted garlic, pea sprouts and mini roma tomatoes.
It's off the cuff, not off the menu – something to munch on as he discusses the allure of the grilled cheese sandwich.
"It's comfort food. It brings us back to childhood," says Shepherd, owner of the Wich? sandwich bar in Kensington Market. "As we age, we can fancy it up. But in the end, it's just bread and cheese."
Yes, there's grilled cheese. And then there's grilled cheese.
There's the sandwich of our childhoods: a square of processed cheese in soft white bread, buttered on the outside, toasted and pressed into a skillet with a spatula until golden brown. The cheese, molten and satiny orange, oozes as the sandwich is separated into two triangles. The corners are dipped in ketchup. Maybe there's a pickle alongside, or warm, canned tomato soup.
And there's grilled cheese for grown-ups – fresh takes on a classic, sitting on the culinary horizon. "Elevated grilled cheese," Shepherd calls it. Example: Danish blue with pear and toasted garlic on sourdough rye.
Thanks to evolution and one-upmanship, toasted bread and cheese comes in many guises. Those embellished with meat or coatings bother cheese purists. France's croque monsieur is a cross between grilled cheese and french toast, with ham added. Italians enjoy the breaded mozzarella in carozza with tomato and anchovy accents. And, of course, they are apt to press anything inside a panini, or grilled sandwich. The signature Cuban sandwich is the cubano, with pork, ham, swiss and pickles, pressed in a skillet. Mexicans translate grilled cheese into quesadillas, with tortillas substituting for the bread. Chefs, meanwhile, constantly push boundaries. At Toronto's Brassaii resto, a croque monsieur involves duck confit, brie and tomato jam.
According to Foodtimeline.org, most cultures and continents are home to cooked bread-and-cheese combos. The earliest such recipes are found in ancient Roman texts. The grilled cheese, as we know it, was born in the 1920s, when stores began to stock processed cheese (a.k.a. American cheese) and cheap, sliced white bread. By World War II, navy cooks at sea were broiling "American cheese filling sandwiches" by the hundreds. Institutional kitchens and cafeterias followed suit.
In the '40s and '50s, these sandwiches were opened-faced. It was not until the 1960s that the top slice of bread became standard. Why, no one is sure. Maybe it's because double-sided sandwiches are more portable.
A review of old recipes shows these sandwiches being broiled, baked or fried in skillets or on griddles, and called a variety of names. In 1902, there was Melted Cheese, and in 1916, Cheese Dreams. In 1953, The Joy of Cooking suggested a "maidless cook" could prepare Waffle Sandwiches, or grilled cheeses made in a waffle iron.
The world's most famous grilled cheese sandwich was made in a pan. Diana Duyser of Hollywood, Fla., auctioned the sandwich on eBay for $28,000 (U.S.). Duyser told the world she had made it a decade earlier, took one bite, then saw a likeness of the Virgin Mary on it. She cradled the sandwich in cotton wool and sealed it in a plastic tub. Duyser claims that the lack of mould is "a miracle." So, perhaps, is the staying power of processed cheese.
In another miracle, Joey (Jaws) Chestnut downed 47 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes last year. The speed eater set a world record in a competition in Las Vegas that was sponsored, not coincidentally, by the online gambling site GoldenPalace.com., owner of the Virgin Mary grilled cheese.
"I believe this contest will highlight the grilled cheese's position as one of history's great sandwiches," George Shea, chairman of the International Federation of Competitive Eating, said before the event.
Uncomplicated, warm, soothing, the grilled cheese is beloved by home cooks as well as denizens of dining halls, cafeterias and greasy spoons everywhere. Like many of us, Christie Silversides has grilled cheese memories from her childhood.
"My dad stayed at home a lot," Silversides recalls. "He cooked me lunches. It was usually grilled cheese and tomato soup."
Silversides is a chef who manages Leslieville Cheese Market & Fine Foods. The young shop sells four designer grilled cheese sandwiches, with riffs on ingredients such as rosemary olive oil bread, maple-smoked cheddar, provolone, beef summer sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, grilled mushrooms and balsamic ketchup.
As a child, Silversides remembers coming in from the cold to the scent of grilled cheese – almost worth traipsing home in a blizzard. Nowadays, her thoughts are turning to a winter menu. Perhaps potato chive bread with molten raclette cheese?
Shepherd, too, likes to experiment. His latest is a weird take on grilled cheese for carb-loaders: a mac-and-cheese sandwich with organic ketchup.
Wich? opened in the back room at the Rice Bar last summer. The concept here is create-your-own, mix-and-match.
"Everyone understands sandwiches," Shepherd says. "You can make a sandwich as interesting as an entrée, like a green curry chicken sandwich ... You can put anything inside bread."
For months, he frequented local cheese shops for test slices of this and that. He also played with condiments for grilled cheese, ranging from strawberry jam to sriracha hot sauce. The jam completes the cheese and fruit equation. As for the sriracha, he says: "That's the real ketchup substitute."
Shepherd even thought about offering white bread and American cheese. "But that's not me," he says.
Whether a cook's doing it old school or new, it's hard to mess up grilled cheese. That's a plus in this cooking-challenged world. "Anyone can make it," Shepherd says.
That may also be its downfall in restaurants. We think of grilled cheese more as something mom makes than a dish to dine out on. Sure, it's a staple at diners, but it can be a hard sell on more ambitious menus.
Shepherd found his grilled cheese sales too slow, so he stepped in with four designer sandwiches.
When diners think of grilled cheese, they do think, "Hey, I can make this at home."
But Shepherd adds: "If you make it a little more interesting, they're not going to make that at home."
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Source : http://www.thestar.com/comment/colu.../article/269632
hmm i think i will stop by Leslieville Cheese Market and Fine Foods ... mmm hungry
Leslieville Cheese Market Incý -
891 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON M4M 1J4, Canadaý - (416) 465-7143ý
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sounds very good
