Here's how to make a really good grilled cheese sandwich. Also, American cheese is cheese just as much as meatballs are meat or bread is wheat. More on that here: www.seriouseats.com/2016/07/w...
Your new POV videos at home are amazing - especially where you tell stories or explain food science. But what I truly love about them is that they're real time. We see you chopping, prepping, etc. as the food cooks; and for me, it's helped make me faster cook (since most videos have everything prepped ahead of time). I watch a lot of cooking videos, but I honestly don't make much of what I watch. I've probably made more meals from your new POV videos than any other. I really hope once quarantine ends, you keep making them.
I keep sliced white bread in the freezer - primarily for preservation... I don't use it that often. But a nice side effect is that you can spread (cold) butter on the frozen slices very easily. The bread thaws very quickly in the hot pan and doesn't hamper the melting of the cheese. I get really nice result that way... evenly browned, buttery, crunchy bread and stringy cheese. Cheers.
@@vgiriande Short answer: No, not for me. Generally: Why would it? There is no extra moisture added to the bread. If you have large, visible ice crystals forming on the bread (that would melt into the bread as it thaws, thus making it soggy), you have a problem with your freezer.
When I make grilled cheese from frozen sliced bread, I ding it in the microwave for a short 30 sec or less, to get the bread soft, so that I don’t have to wait as long for the bread to crisp up
@@KnickKnackPatty If you have problems with not eating bread fast enough, this is all you need to do to keep a loaf really. Just make sure that you never forget to tie up the bag back closed.
10:22 is such a heart-warming frame with the daughter's "Preschool Papa" list, the child's artwork and fun grabber tool, and the neon-beaded bracelet on your wrist. You are obviously a good dad, and I appreciate seeing it. It's also apparent by your choice not to include her voice and face in these videos. Keep it up.
Me and my fiancé just watched this video in bed at 1:25am. It's now 1:30am and we're both in the kitchen cooking ourselves a grilled cheese. This is gonna be epic 😂
I'm a big fan of Sodium Citrate and use it in all my Mac & Cheese, Nachos, etc. Being a science geek. I love the coincidental formula Na3C6H5O7 -- NaCHO !
If you don’t have sodium citrate, you can add some lemon juice and a pinch of baking soda. I use it in pasta dishes all the time. The baking soda neutralizes the sour acid flavor, leaving you with the citrate ion in solution!
The best thing about Kenji's videos is the fact that not only do you learn cooking techniques but also you learn about different cultures and their contribution to food. Also as an Asian myself I appreciate the real food science lessons.
Been making grilled cheese in one form or another for 40+ years. When he was grilling the bread individually, I was literally like wtf is he doing?? Then the magic...he used that grilled side for the inside of the sandwich. Never ever even crossed my mind to do that. Love this dude!!
After dozens of isolation videos on grilled cheese, this will be the definitive version.. the final word on matters concerning grilled cheese sandwiches.
Actually this one particularly might take you less because when people mess it up at home, they mess it up by using too high heat and toasting the bread too fast.
Oh my god, Chris Schlesinger‘s “Thrill of the Grill” had such an influence on me. Thank you for his honorable mention. One of my favorite quotes from the book; “Barbeque is not a sauce, it is a process.”
Meathead of Amazing Ribs has a recipe for hot sauce called "Controlled Burn." It's pretty much all we eat at our house. Fresno chilis, habaneros, serranos, onions, garlic, fresh ginger, pineapple juice, balsamic, vanilla, Grand Marnier - it has such a complex flavor. I'll definitely check out Todd's, though.
I could listen to Kenji defend American Cheese all day long. I moved to Costa Rica recently and was ecstatic to find American Cheese down here. Family Disagrees but damn if I don't love what American cheese brings to the table.
Just made this w/ Japanese “hotel” bread. You’re changing my culinary life Kenji, thank you! The salt sprinkle is such a pro tip, as well as American cheese helping the others melt. 🤯 I used pepper jack, American, and white cheddar.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the schedule next to the cutting board. It's great to see other parents being so proactive with education during these times. Also I think I speak for everyone in wanting to know more about circle time. :D
I also think it's great he keeps his family off of camera. Way too many people just plaster their children online without understanding their child's feelings or potential risks.
Circle time is we sit in a circle (or when it’s just two of us, that’s reduced to a line facing each other), have a small snack, and usually read a story or sing a song or sometimes talk about something. It’s quiet sit-down time.
I love mustard in a grilled cheese. Or - and I just made one with this - a thin smear of pesto. Does the same job as mustard (acidic punch of flavor), and I had a small amount I needed to use up. Fresh mozzarella, a little aged cheddar, a sprinkle of kosher salt, and pesto. So good!
@@JKenjiLopezAlt True. And I honestly thought about leaving that word out. But it does deliver a similar sensation - really sharp, bright flavor that balances the cheese and butter.
Always here for the “Holy Grail” references 😆 It’s funny that you mentioned Josh Ozersky as I’m wearing a t-shirt from “Meatopia”, which he started and later became part of the NYC Wine & Food Festival.
One: I hope you keep making lots of these videos after the pandemic. Two: now you have to make sous-chef Eric show us how he makes the lactofermented hot sauce.
Plenty of great videos out for that. Really, you just lacto-ferment any chile you like, and when it's ready, strain the chiles off and toss them in a blender. Add as much of the ferment liquid back in as you think it needs or set it with vinegar if you want that tang (also not a bad idea if storing at room temp). If you want it smooth/liquid, strain out the solids. Boom, hot sauce! You can add other flavors you like to the ferment, like garlic, ginger, or herbs/spices.
Long time (and I'd say a bit more serious than average) home cook here. Just tried the American cheese between cheddar trick, and I'm so surprised at how well it works. I learn something with each one of these videos, and can't tell you how grateful I am that you take the time to continue to put these out. Start a Patreon, and I'll join it. Thanks, Kenji. Edit: And yeah, as someone who has been salting the outside of a gilled cheese for years, it should be one of the main takeaways of this one. I've also been toasting both sides since I was a kid. I was actually shocked that most other folks I knew didn't ever do that.
one of my favorite mix-ups is to take a really sharp or funky cheese and pair it with some sweet stuff. one time I made one that was really pushing the definitions of what you'd consider a grilled cheese, shingles of brie on sourdough slices with some homemade strawberry jam. I'll also, if I'm shredding cheddar and gouda for it, mix in mustard powder and some cayenne and black pepper.
Me myself I love using white bread Texas toast. It's thick and soft and doesn't fall apart on me like regular bread. Instead of putting butter in the pan I butter both sides of each bread slice Toast both sides on the pan Then put regular American cheese and cheddar cheese They mix well perfectly And it comes out great everytime
Found a Japanese bakery in Auckland that sells shokupan. At first I was unimpressed - this looks like an ordinary unsliced supermarket white loaf. Then you notice it’s a little moister, with a tighter texture and a subtle yeastyness that’s completely missing from the supermarket product. But the damn thing is NZ$11! That’s NZ$2 more than a 1kg full-grain rye loaf from the German artisan baker up the road! Oh well. Kenji’s method is excellent and I’ll probably be slipping a slice of “American” cheese in with the Cheddar and Emmental in every toasted cheese sandwich I make in future. And do it on shokupan, when I can spare the change.
its crazy that you actually put in the work and correct yourself on things you say, instead of just letting it be. A lot more content creators should be like that...
I know it sounds weird, but my favorite grilled cheese melt has an over-easy egg, bacon, and peanut butter (ideally spicy) spread onto the cheese. The way that the cheese melts with the peanut butter, and then mixes with the egg yolk is god-send. Also nice Monty Python reference.
Great to hear you mention Josh. He was such an awesome writer and FAN of food. I still watch ozerskyTV episodes from time to time. Thanks for all the great content Kenji!
I like putting tomato thokku, which is a savory super spicy indian pickle made with ground tomatoes, tamarind, and chillies, in my grilled cheese, and some english mustard!
@@leighanne6364 Tomato thokku in my home style is Make a dry powder of toasted fenugreek and asefotida Grind Peeled tomatoes and Tamarind into a paste Fry in a vanli with salt and kashmiri lal chilly powder for color with lotsa oil. Just as the oil separates add the fenugreek and asefotida All of these amounts are to taste, and we don't really measure so use your best instincts to decide the ratios! Good luck experimenting! Oh, we use fresh Bangalore or Indian country tomatoes, I'm not sure you can do this with canned ones.
This is the video that made me buy those chefs presses from California kitchen. They are pretty handy to have in smaller pans when nothing else is going to fit. Thanks for the recommendation Kenji!
I love the flavor of butter with grilled cheeses, but prefer the even browning and crunch that I get from using mayo. It would be interesting to see how a hollandaise would work with grilled cheese, since that’s basically a mayo made with butter instead of oil 🤔
In the first 3 minutes you gave a better explanation of American cheese than I've ever heard. I'm gonna use your sausage - meat analogy all freakin DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY
I'm not non-binary but I am trans and you signing off with "bye guys, gals and non-binary pals" made my morning infinitely better. Totally subscribed because of that. Thank you for making such informative and comfy videos ♥️♥️♥️
Since mayo is just eggs and oil, it browns reasonably pretty well but the taste isn't as good. It's a decent substitute but I wouldn't use it as a replacement.
I've found that salted butter can sit at room temp in a covered dish seemingly forever, however unsalted will become rancid in a relatively short amount of time.
What's your opinion on using mayonnaise in place of butter? I have seen Bon Appetit recommend using mayonnaise instead of butter which seems odd to me.
Rather than butter or mayo, I've really taken to using ghee (or another clarified butter) as the fat of choice for grilled cheese. It's produces a better flavor than mayo, is way easier to apply to either the pan or the bread than butter, and is incredibly hard to burn. You get an even, golden delicious texture every time.
Personally dislike mayo crusts but browning butter and then toasting the bread in said butter is really crispy, and kinda tastes nutty. It's all personal preference
Rather than seeking Kenji's opinion on mayo (he has used mayo in a previous grilled cheese video btw), why not try it yourself and decide if it's to your taste? Are you going to make choices in your life based on what someone else thinks?
It works nicely for browning. The flavor is different. Sometimes I do mayo when I feel like it! If forced to pick I’d stick with butter but luckily nobody forced me to pick such things.
american cheese melts great, but is flavorless. I really like what you did here, by combining it with more flavorfull cheeses. I will try that next time i make a grilled cheese, I always had the problem of not getting proper melts.
I like making grilled cheese with rye bread, aged Swiss, drained sauerkraut, spicy mustard. And I never use butter in the pan. I slather mayo on the bread instead. If you've never tried mayo instead of butter, you're missing out.
The cream pan I grew up with from Sunmerry bakery in NJ is like shokupan made with heavy cream instead of milk. That’s what the bread sold here at Nijiya in San Mateo labeled “cream pan” is as well. Custard-stuffed with a crunchy sugar top is melon pan. Maybe depends where you get it? Googling cream pan shows what looks to me like melon pan without the topping, but on the other hand two different Japanese bakeries on opposite coasts both call rich shokupan “cream pan,” so there must be variation in naming conventions. 🤷♂️
IDK. When I was growing up in LA, the stuff from Mikawaya was “cream pan” and soft sweet buns with custard and no shokupan to be found. It would not surprise me if this is Nikkei vs modern Japanese usage. I’ll have to go ask around and see what the pattern is!
I consulted with a bilingual international Japanese food expert, and the conclusion is that while cream-based shokupan do exist, generally it’s a more recent phenomenon, and called “Hokkaido cream shokupan”...at least in Japan. (Or I’m seeing “nama shokupan” for “nama kuriimu” (Japanese for whipping cream). Sunmerry’s online stuff doesn’t list cream pan at all, and Nijiya San Mateo lists the cream pan that I remember, so...maybe you’re in a different timeline than me! Heh. (I just discovered that Nijiya San Mateo is making sake kasu pan and I’m super intrigued.)
Finally- FINALLY. SOMEONE ELSE WHO TOASTS THE INSIDE OF THEIR GRILLED CHEESE! I have been preaching double grilled bread for grilled cheese for years now. Glad to see you continue to be a man of good tastes, Kenji. EDIT: On the topic of hot sauce, if you haven't tried it before, I 150% recommend Formosa! They make an incredible habanero hot sauce with a tomatillo base that crushes most other hot sauces in my books.
That "and non binary pals" made me smile. Thank you Kenji for spreading love for all humans not judgement and discrimination. As a transwoman, it makes our day whenever someone we look up to does this things.
I recently "discovered" the idea of drizzling honey on the outside of a grilled cheese and I don't know if I will ever make grilled cheese without it again. I put it on when both sides of the sandwich have been toasted and flip it a few more times. Absolutely delicious with the salty cheese
"3 slices of cheese may seem like an unreasonable amount..." Me: Yeah, totally, that's definitely not that much at all. "...but it's a reasonable amount" Me: Oh.
Being a mechanic and loving to cook I love kitchen tools also I found those same Chef presses on eBay And we have been using a butter Bell for about 2 years now, we have coffee and buttered toast every morning at 4 a.m. the butter doesn't last more than two weeks. A little salt in the water helps it stay fresh longer.
