Five Secrets to Great Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Sometimes the simplest things are also the trickiest to get right. With just a few ingredients and no special techniques, anyone can make a grilled cheese sandwich, but not necessarily a great grilled cheese sandwich. In fact, many recipes and even videos online seriously miss the mark. A great grilled cheese sandwich should be toasty, golden brown and crisp on the outside with soft and gooey melted cheese on the inside.

Bruce Hill, former Chef and Owner at Bix and Zero Zero in San Francisco is the mastermind behind the grilled cheese sandwiches that have been a mainstay at restaurants including a simple one at Fog City and a fancy one at Bix. Hill says the famous truffled cheese croques at Bix, named for the Croque Monsieur, were “inspired by the wonderful truffle cheese we discovered years ago, Il Boschetto al Tartufo. We also include onion confit in the sandwiches, which complements the truffle flavor.” Here are some of his tips for the best grilled cheese sandwiches ever.

Soft bread

Bread provides the contrasting texture with chew and sometimes crunch for sandwiches, but for grilled cheese sandwiches, it’s the grilling that transforms the bread and creates the perfect crispness. Bruce Hill weighs in with his favorite bread for grilled cheese sandwiches, Japanese milk bread. Available at Asian specialty markets and bakeries, it was developed in Japan and has a soft and springy texture thanks to the use of tangzhong, a flour-and-water or roux starter traditionally used in China.

Soft butter

Softened butter spread on the outside of the bread before grilling adds flavor and enhances the ability of bread to crisp up when grilled. Cold butter may rip the bread, but softened butter spreads smoothly. Mayonnaise is sometimes used instead because it has an even higher smoke point than butter. According to Hill there’s no need to add mayonnaise or butter the inside of the bread, which can lead to an overly greasy mouthfeel.

High quality cheese

This might seem obvious, but with so few ingredients, a more flavorful and higher quality cheese is going to make a better sandwich. Rather than plain old cheddar, Hill suggests a young gouda or even gruyère. While gruyère is more traditional for French onion soup, he notes that it is famous for melting which makes it a natural for grilled cheese sandwiches as well. Of course, you could also make your own version of his truffled grilled cheese sandwiches with Il Boschetto al Tartufo, a fresh semi-soft cow and sheep milk cheese from Tuscany.

Sliced cheese

You’ll see a lot of recipes calling for grated cheese. But Hill says sliced cheese is easier to work with. Thin slices are even, providing better bread coverage, and won’t come spilling out during grilling.

Pressure

The bread on a grilled cheese sandwich will toast extremely evenly if given the right pressure. While traditional presses or even a heavy skillet provides weight, they don’t provide venting to allow moisture to escape. Enter Hill’s invention, The Chef’s Press, a set of interlocking presses with slats that ensure the best contact with the grill. Using the press to make a grilled cheese sandwich will result in a picture-perfect, extremely evenly toasted sandwich with no undercooked or overcooked spots. For soft bread, Hill recommends using just one 8 ounce press.