The one true meal: Cheese Toast

[norabombay]

In the litany of food stuffs, few things are tastier and easier than Cheese Toast.

What you need:

Cheese.
Bread.
A knife.
A piece of tinfoil.

Take bread. Cut slice. Place on the piece of tin foil. On top of bread place slices of cheese.

Stick in oven or toaster oven for about 5-10 minutes. You can microwave for a minute, but it's not as good.

Watch for the cheese to start to bubble, and it's done.

Eat!

It is also good when served with eggs. Scrambled, boiled, poached. Or with soup. Or a salad.





Advanced Directions for making it the best thing ever.

1. Cheese: Get a cheese that melts well. I'm partial to sharp white cheddar. But Monterray Jack, or Colby, or Mozzarella, or any cheese that is not rock hard will work. Ironically, the pre-shredded stuff, while good, doesn't make the best cheese toast.

2. Bread: The better you like the bread the better the toast. Crusty french or sour dough. Challah. Rye. Pumpernickl. Really, any bread.

3. Add ins: Tomato is a classic. My suggestion: if adding a tomato, slice it and put on tinfoil. Cook it for about 5-10 min before you put it on the bread with the cheese- makes sure you get it cooked. Even better if you put a little garlic or olive oil on the tomato slices when you bake them.

4. Condiments: Depending on taste, a smear of mustard, or jam, or hot sauce on the bread before you put on the cheese can be delicious.

Finally: The Shred. If you like things with melted cheese, a box grater can be your best friend. They look like this: Box Grater at Amazon.

Available all over the place for about $10 USD.

You use the big holes to shred cheese like cheddar or colby or such to melt.

Use the small holes on the side to shred hard cheeses like parmesan to put over pasta.

And you can also use the grater for carrots and other vegetables.

The cheese you shred yourself will always melt better than the stuff that comes pre-shredded. When making cheese toast? It's worth it. It also can get better results for less work than slicing the cheese.

Comments

[hetairai]

I normally just do it with the bread and cheese but the tomato sounds good, will try it next time.

[melannen]

I usually do it in the microwave, but I put the bread in the toaster to toast it first; it somewhat prevents the chewy-rather-than-toasty bread you end up when you zap it. (Also, sometimes I butter the toast before I put the cheese on. If I feel the need for extra grease. Which, sometimes, you just need extra grease.)

ETA: also, since this *is* boilingwater: don't use tinfoil if you're microwaving it. :D Use a plate.

[marymac]

Oooo. Good idea. Other additives:

- Tomato puree, spread like butter. I am a) lazy and b) only have real tomatoes in the house when the nuns have a surplus.

- Chutneys. Especially caramelised onion and spiced apple chutneys. This is where your nearest butcher/fancy grocer/market comes in. One jar of good stuff lasts ages and makes fabulous toast.

- Spice grinders, particularly garlic or chilli ones. Exercise caution with the chilli ones.

- Pesto. Any kind of pesto, under the cheese.

[redsnake05]

I like thinly sliced mushrooms or red onion under the cheese. For a high fibre, high protein variation, heat up some baked beans and put them on the toast and then lay the cheese on top. It's a bit squishy, but delicious.

[rosebee]

One of my favorite modifications to this is to take pesto, spread it on sourdough bread, then put crumble/spread chevre on top and toast. :)

YUMMY!

[kate]

Oh goodness. Both of those sound like delicious variations.

[kate]

I used to make this in college all the time, but I've forgotten. Thanks for the reminder!

[exhausted_pigeon]

Seconding the chutney. It does good things to cheese toast.

[norabombay]

I only do it with the tomato when I am able to get my hands on really good ones. Cooking them first is entirely a matter of personal taste, but I like it better when they are nice and warm, and not this cold layer between the bread and cheese.

[norabombay]

YES!

Toast the bread in a toaster, toss cheese on, microwave. Not bad at all. Not as good as doing it entirely in the oven, but super easy and almost as good.

I almost put the note about not using tinfoil in the microwave. I'm glad you thought to.

[norabombay]

Oooh, all very good.

I've never tried it with pesto, but that is yummy sounding.

[norabombay]

I've never tried it with beans. I may have to do so with my next set of cheese toast.

[norabombay]

Ooooh. Goat cheese and pesto. YUM!

[norabombay]

No prob. I love cheese toast, and it is pretty simple. But if you don't know what you are doing, it turns out awful.

Seemed to be the right level.

[vass]

In Australia, we have Jaffle irons. Yes, I know you have sandwich makers in the US, but we originated the jaffle iron, which was a non-electronic version that you stuck over the stove or in a campfire. It was great with baked beans, but my favourite was bananas.

[marymac]

It tends to look a bit interesting, and my mum refuses to have anythign to do with it cause she says it looks mouldy, but it does taste good. Specially rocket pesto.

Oh no, now I want some.

[hetairai]

I'm the opposite, I like mind cold and crunchy. I like the hot/cold mix.

[lonesome_george]

I don't normally have cheese on toast because I'm really picky when it comes to cooked cheese, so when I do eat it I usually use lashings of Worcestershire sauce which then makes it super-tasty imo :3

I haven't had it in so long, I'm going to have to make some next time I get the chance.

[norabombay]

Worcestershire is an excellent add on. I think of this as more of a technique than an actual recipe. If you know to toast cheese on bread, the actual cheese/toast/condiment selection is entirely up to personal taste.

[norabombay]

Ohh. That's awesome. I think of this as a technique more than a recipe. Once you know how to melt the cheese on the bread without burning anything, there is essentially an unlimited number of options.

Bananas would be delicious.

[mathsnerd]

norabombay, I just wanted to tell you, I made cheese toast for the first time ever, and it worked! I toasted a muffin first, spread both halves generously with Marmite, covered them with grated Cheddar, sprinkled some Worcestershire sauce on top, and then broiled them for 4 minutes. It was so tasty. Thank you!