Don’t Grill Cheese in Mayonnaise
I love mayonnaise. It makes the mashed potatoes creamier , makes a great steak , and is an essential part of almost every sandwich. But one application I can’t refuse is to spread it on a fried cheese sandwich. It doesn’t taste so good.
I want you to like it. In theory, this makes sense, and I want to believe that mayonnaise is some kind of miracle condiment that makes everything it touches better. Mayo’s higher smoke point gives the cheese more time to melt (which I never needed) and it crunches well, but it doesn’t taste like fried cheese. Ghee tastes good. Ghee mayonnaise has no greasy taste. Come on oil. Give me a scent.
The mayonnaise used as a frying agent is very neutral. It’s a little sweet and slightly spicy, but almost all of that disappears in the pan. The butter stays there and tastes more nutty as it turns brown. Brush too much mayonnaise on a sandwich and it will become soft and greasy. Spreading too much butter on a sandwich? There is simply no such thing. I also never found a mayonnaise sandwich getting crisper than butter as the butter browns and the chips are fine. (He is literally known for toasting.)
If you’re having trouble burning your bread before the cheese melts, turn off the damn hotplate – medium or low to start with – and think you might have picked the wrong cheese. Not all cheese should be eaten equally. Just like you wouldn’t eat a room temperature piece of American cheese, you shouldn’t melt really good spicy cheddar. (Actually, I don’t believe there are people out there who genuinely prefer melted hot cheddar to melted American cheese, since melting good hot cheddar is perhaps the most disrespectful thing you can do with it.)
Hard, crumbly cheeses don’t melt right from the start – the pH is damn low – and they start to freeze as soon as you take them out of the pot. I’m personally a big fan of American cheese – it’s made to melt – but young soft cheeses like smoked Gouda, provolone, brick-made cheese, mozzarella, and any other cheese (colby and pepper) melt with ease. Heck, you can even get raclette if you have the taste, but insisting on aged hard cheese just turns out to be a failure.
Conversely, if you are a fan of classic American grilled cheese (the best grilled cheese), then using mayonnaise will ruin your day, or at least make it a little less enjoyable. Every time I grill cheese with mayonnaise – and I do this about once a year to make sure I’m not missing out on something – my cheese melts well before the bread is crispy, leaving me soft and fat. grilled cheese. …
One seemingly obvious advantage of Mayo is that it is ready to decompose the moment you take it out of the refrigerator, but this is only an advantage if you live in a house where all the oil is kept in the refrigerator at all times. (Why are you doing this?) And even if it is, and all your butter is cold and non-spreading, there is a very simple way to butter your bread straight from the fridge: just melt it in a skillet. first.
Actually this is how my stepmother greases all her bread with butter, but it works very well with fried cheese. Take about a tablespoon of butter, melt it over medium or low heat, then place a slice of bread in the butter puddle and stir to coat. Remove it from the pan, set it aside (butter facing up) and add some more butter to the pan before adding the next slice of bread. Toss this slice in ghee, add the cheese slices, then place the first slice buttered (creamy side up) on top of the cheese. Cover the skillet for a minute to melt the harder cheeses (if you insisted on using them), broil and turn until both sides are golden brown.
Are there any exceptions to my rule – never grill cheese with mayonnaise? Just one, and that’s if you’re grilling your cheese on a real grill like Meathead Goldwyn does , since the charred, roasted flavor will be the dominant flavor anyway, and mayonnaise is just a flavorful, less moody, more grill friendly option. But what about a simple fried sandwich made with just bread and cheese? Children, this must be butter. It just has to be.