[Sca-cooks] OOP: Cheez Sammichez

[Nick Sasso]

> -----Original Message-----
><<<SNIP>>> Heat the broiler to high and place the
> open faced sandwiches underneath.  Keep a careful eye
> on them so they don't burn too much, but you'll find
> the cheese will puff up and begin to brown.  I peel
> off the browned layer and eat it first - deelish!

In my household, this preparation was called "Cheese Toast".  A fine meal in
it's own right, but different from "Grilled Cheese" proper.  The grilled
cheese was the american cheese on white bread affair fried in the skillet
with butter.  Both were served aside hot Campbell's tomato soup . . .
"Campbell Up" as I recall.

It seems sort of a familial or possibly regional thing whether to add
tomato, et al. or not.  Maybe even something from one of those ubiquitous
magazines offering "gourmet" enhancements to mundane foods . . . maybe a
Velveeta add? Much of fad Americana did actually come from corporate test
kitchens initially.  As my family was working a pretty smallish budget, we
had grilled cheese as a budget meal using cheapest american singles and
margarine, probably.

The variants of adding the butter to the skillet or apply to the bread are a
surprising difference to me for some reason.  So many Americans here do use
butter-fried bread, just vary how they apply the fat to the dish.

niccolo difrancesco