Best cheese toastie in the world?

September 29, 2012 7:04 AM

Cheese toastie filter: Please tell me about the best toasted cheese sandwiches in the world.

I want to try some inspirational cheese toasties. Please give me you favourite recipes, cheese purveyors, bread, techniques and additional ingredients.

(I'm UK based with an excellent source of sourdough bread.)

posted by Bigbrowncow to food & drink (23 answers total)

Sourdough, brie and pears. Need I say more?
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 7:06 AM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

This thread is full of possibilities.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 7:16 AM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Note: for me a cheese toastie is open face, so I don't actually count it as a sandwich.

Apple and cheddar.

I haven't tried it (now I'm tempted), but if you put some sort of condiment under the cheese that chutney would work. I generally hate ketchup and don't buy it, so I use steak/brown sauce, but I think that's pretty normal.
posted by hoyland at 7:30 AM on September 29, 2012

My current favorite:

1. Kalamata olive bread^* / 2. Sauerkraut (homemade: green cabbage, 2 cloves of minced garlic, sprinkled liberally w/non-iodized salt, left on the window sill in a mason jar for a few weeks) / 3. Shredded sharp cheddar / 4. Small amount of good-quality horseradish (like Kelchner's)

^* From Atwaters in Baltimore, MD but anything in the ballpark - lots of recipes available online.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:34 AM on September 29, 2012

There's a bar here in Chicago that will make you grilled cheese with macaroni and cheese in the middle. Texas toast (really thick bread with garlic and butter on it, usually) with a slice of cheddar melted on each side (this serves as a barrier between the mac and the bread, because who wants soggy bread?), and a pile of gooey delicious macaroni and cheese in the middle. They serve it with a little tub of tomato soup for dipping.
posted by goodbyewaffles at 8:06 AM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Cheese + slivers of stem ginger makes a great combination
posted by smudge at 8:50 AM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

My favourite is to spread mustard on the OUTSIDE of the bread, spread chutney on the inside, grate some apple (squeeze out the juice), some cheddar or swiss cheese, and a little onion, mix it all together (sometimes with a bit of cottage cheese too), and pile it inside the sandwich. Put in toastie maker. Toast.
posted by lollusc at 8:51 AM on September 29, 2012

Another good one is baked beans and cheese, but that's pretty standard (where I'm from, anyway) so you probably know it.

And/or if you squish an indentation into one of the pieces of bread, you can crack an egg into it before adding the rest of the filling (which should be baked beans and cheese for this combo, in my opinion). It can overflow, but it's still delicious. The egg white cooks through and the yolk stays runny in the middle.
posted by lollusc at 8:53 AM on September 29, 2012

My favorite ever is to add tomato, basil and honey. I first had this combo at a place called Cafe Muse. It is so good that it was featured on Oprah! They make theirs with fontina, mozzarella and havarti, but any cheese works for me - it is mostly all about the honey and basil.

My boyfriend likes to use mayo on the outside of his grilled cheese (instead of butter) he thinks it is crispier - I can't tell the difference
posted by Sabby at 8:59 AM on September 29, 2012

I've had the following "Cheese Toastie" at Caviar & Bananas in Charleston, SC that was so good I had to avoid going down that street because it did a number on my dopamine receptors.

Ingredients:

--slices of excellent sourdough bread
--bread or olive oil for the pan
--2-3 tbs. pesto
--shredded gruyére, cheddar, smoked gouda, manchego
--strips of roasted piquillo peppers from a jar
--small amt. arugula

Spread inside of bread slices with pesto and drop shredded cheeses on it. Heat butter or olive oil in pan, and grill the sandwich until the cheese is oozing out the sides. Pull apart the slices slightly and tuck in the peppers and arugula.

I've done a lazy-but-almost-as-yummy version of this using Trader Joe's shredded Quatro Formaggio and regular roasted peppers. For both versions, though, the pesto is pretty essential as is the arugula for crunch and a peppery bite.
posted by Elsie at 9:39 AM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Dijon mustard, sauteed onions, old cheddar cheese. AMAZING. CLASSIC. DELICIOUS.

(Variation: HP Sauce instead of mustard.)
posted by Kololo at 9:44 AM on September 29, 2012

I think Alton Brown's Welsh rarebit is the best toasted cheese sandwich, but then I only consider open faced sandwiches under a broiler to be "toasted cheese sandwiches", everything else is some variant of a grilled cheese. In the event of grilled cheese, anything that's not kraft singles on wonder bread is the best.
posted by crush-onastick at 9:52 AM on September 29, 2012

My personal favorite is goat cheese, fresh basil, spinach and salt and pepper and maybe a drizzle of honey.
posted by MadamM at 9:56 AM on September 29, 2012

Asiago Grilled/Baked Cheese Sandwich

Here's my favorite, stolen from somewhere but I don't remember the original source because I've been making it for years. It's a little work grilling then baking, but totally worth it as the mesh of flavors in this one is outstanding. Quality, in-season tomatoes make all the difference here so forgo the cheap, mealy, hothouse kind and spring for the good ones.

For 2 sandwiches:
1 TLB butter
4 slices Sourdough Bread
4 thin slices Prosciutto
8 Fresh Basil Leaf
8 slices of soft Asiago Cheese
Salt
Dried Red Pepper Flakes - 1/4 tsp per sandwich or to taste
2 TLB Olive Oil
4 Slices of really good tomato - whatever variety you like. I use Heirloom


Preheat Oven to 400 Degrees

Butter the grilling side of the bread and put together the sandwiches (minus the tomato) in the following order:
2 Proscuitto Slices
4 Basil Leaves
4 Slices Asiago
Sprinkle with salt and red pepper flake to taste. I use about 1/8 tsp red pepper per sandwich, but you may use less or more.

On the stove top, heat olive oil in large cast iron or other oven-safe pan (yes, even with the buttered bread) and once the pan is hot, grill the sandwiches with the prosciutto side on the bottom until golden brown on just the one side - about 4-5 minutes. Don't moosh the sandwich down, just let it grill like that.

Turn the sandwiches over & then immediately transfer the pan to the pre-heated oven. Bake until bread is golden brown and cheese is thoroughly melted - approximately 5-6 minutes, watch closely.

Put the sandwiches on plates and then lift up the top piece of bread to insert tomato slices. Serve. DELICIOUS!!

Notes: I also make a variation of this where I add some very thin julienne of red onion - that's also splendid.

Also, I've tried this sandwich by grilling both sides instead of also using the oven and it never comes out right so for best results grill one side, bake the other.
posted by trixare4kids at 11:33 AM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Lightly toast the bread of your choice (I normally use soda bread). Spread red pesto over the toast, follow with a generous layer of hummus. Chop some cherry tomatoes in half and lay on top the hummus. Cover with sliced or grated edam or gouda. Put under the grill until the cheese melts.
posted by roolya_boolya at 12:13 PM on September 29, 2012

Don't remember where I got this, but:

1 slice whole wheat bread, buttered on the cooking side.
Pesto on the other side
Next, a slice of provolone cheese
Next, 2 tomato slices
Next, a slice of american cheese
Last, another bread slice, pesto'd on the "inside," buttered on the "outside"

Cook on medium high in the frying pan, about 5 minutes a side.
posted by JanetLand at 1:59 PM on September 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Ya'll are gross. Bread, butter, processed American cheese. QED.
posted by OHSnap at 2:28 PM on September 29, 2012

I'm not sure that this fits the definition, but Kimchi quesadillas are glorious. American recipe advocates "Monterey Jack" and "sharp cheddar"; I would suggest something like West Country Farmhouse Cheddar which can hold its own against the kimchi.
posted by pont at 3:23 PM on September 29, 2012

My partner recently made a cheese toastie with the tomato/onion mix left from slow roasting lambshanks. He said the slow roasted onion and tomato (with a hint of garlic and lambfat) melted into the cheese itself to make some unholy concoction of fat and sweetness.

It was just on regular multigrain bread, with Colby cheese. I imagine a good sourdough would have made it better but the Colby melts well and is reasonably cheesy without being intense.

I love pickles and cheese.

We make ours in a sandwich press, no butter/oil on the outside. The press smooshes it together which is nice.

Grilled I like chicken, mayo and cheese. Or baked beans and cheese.
posted by geek anachronism at 7:37 PM on September 29, 2012

This is the best sandwich I've ever had in my life. You can find the rest of their menu here: http://www.stjamescheese.com/pages/detail/158/menu

GRUYERE SANDWICH: Cave aged Swiss Gruyere and caramelized onion confit grilled on Wild Flour multigrain bread.
posted by thebrokenmuse at 9:20 PM on September 29, 2012

I just made this the other day, at the end of a BBQ. Torta roll, sliced in half. Pepper jack cheese on the inside of each half. Split a bratwurst lengthwise, place in the sandwich. Using a press or a brick, press the sandwich as flat as you can in a fry pan over a medium heat. Melted cheese will seep out and you'll get get that awesome fried cheese along the edges of the sandwich. Turn, the grill the other half.

It's messy, use lots of napkins.
posted by Ghidorah at 2:00 AM on September 30, 2012

Call me a snob, but sourdough has no place in a toasted cheese sandwich. It's quite nice, yes, but not here. Bread for a toasted cheese sandwich has a role to play that is more structural and textural than it is providing another layer of flavour (okay, I dislike sourdough in any sandwich, but let's stick to the situation here).

The excellent J. Kenji López-Alt (of seriouseats fame) has written a very clever article on the topic of upgrading grilled cheese sandwiches and I commend it to you.

Also, I hasten to add, a key life goal is to be invited to a party where this is a major feature.
posted by oxford blue at 4:05 AM on September 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

You've eaten here, right? These are world famous toasties and local to you.
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:20 AM on September 30, 2012