An American Art

Like a child going through puberty, the Grilled Cheese Sandwich has gone through a drastic transformation since its inception in the 1920s. It initially began as an open-faced sandwich (one slice of bread, one slice of cheese), which itself was a variation on the nearly ancient combination of bread and cheese. It wasn't until approximately 40 years later that a second slice of bread was added, and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich morphed into its modern-day variation so common to all bon vivants and connaisseurs. After this little set of french vocabulary, I'd like to mention that traditionally, a Grilled Cheese Sandwich is made using American cheese. That's right - American. And while I've done my fair share of experimentation with swiss, cheddar, and even gouda, I am at heart a purist!

It is at this juncture, that I should mention that the name: Grilled Cheese Sandwich, is a bit of a misnomer due to the fact that in the proper preparation one does not actually grill the bread but toast it. The proper way to go about doing this is to apply butter to the outsides of the bread (with the (American) cheese assembled on the inside, obviously) and to place it on a frying pan, a griddle, or a sandwich maker (if you have one... as I do). Once the down-facing, buttered-side has acquired a toasting to your taste, flip the sandwich, and allow for the formerly up-facing, buttered-side to toast as you so desire. Once this has been achieved, and the cheese has melted to a delicious, yellow goo, the Grilled Cheese Sandwich is ready for consumption. Bon appétit!