While I like Guga, I hate his obsession with putting expensive steaks in literally anything and thinking of it as an improvement. I'd rather have my Wagyu plain, and then eat a grilled cheese. I get it it's more exciting than a grilled cheese, but it's less exciting than plain Wagyu.
Or, render out some of the wagyu fat, and use that to toast the bread/in place of butter. My wife uses bacon fat for her grilled cheese and it's amazing.
the problem with adding sodium citrate to just the shredded cheese is it has to be stirred and melted to homogenize the cheeses, just chucking it in wouldn't do much. and I used about 1lb of cheeses to 1/2ish tsp of the stuff when I made my own american cheese. it is acidic and there was alot in that small amount of cheese.
^this. i facepalmed a little bit when i saw that his cheese was still in shredded form when it went on the sandwich, but then i realized that thats probably a sign that guga foods didnt explain it very well.
I was thinking the same thing. Whenever I’ve seen sodium citrate used it’s melted into a cheese sauce akin to velveeta and would be a great opportunity to add in flavors like the ale from earlier. I remember Kenji’s Mac and cheese video he used evaporated milk to get a similar effect. I bet a hack could be adding some American cheese and since that has sodium citrate it might help the other cheeses melt and become more cohesive. But I get he was following Guga’s recipe and execution which seems flawed
When I want grilled cheese, I want Kenji's version. I don't care how it ranks in the end ratings, it's the only one that ticks off all my "grilled cheese" boxes. (mic drop)
Gotta admit. I'm not the biggest fan of Guga these days. Making his "100 dollar food" is literally just making a basic food and then adding Wagyu to it. Not even the rarest butter from Egypt or the most expensive American cheese from Wisconsin or something. Nope, just flat out Wagyu. That's it
@@robbiedaniels2164 everyone is doing clickbait, this is standard whenever you like it or not... YT and almighty alghorithm yada yada with no way around it.
I had a grilled cheese today for the first time in years so that’s an odd coincidence. Cheddar and Camembert on sourdough and cooked in butter and a bit of bacon fat. So a bit fancier than normal but still an actual grilled cheese. Yum
@@ghausimuhammadtiftazani7883 take me for example… love and consume lots of dairy… but my body hates me for it. It’s angrily coming back out one way or another…
Honestly I was probably the one kid where grilled cheese WASN’T a regular presence. Heck it barely had one. Never much white bread in the house after a certain point. In hindsight I wish it did. Quesadillas? Yup, had plenty of those, but quesadillas don’t have the same pull or as much crunch. Completely different satisfaction
My family didn't do grilled cheese either- we did boiled cheese. Slice of bread, butter then cheese and you put condiments on or under the cheese (vegemite, branston pickle under, ketchup or HP sauce over). We still used wholemeal bread for it too but it was such a big treat.
Missing extremely processed wheat produced, extermely fatty cheeses with very low nutrients but high in calories, i don't really know if you missed out.
@@Kavriel you’re dtm😂 two slices of bread with one slide of cheese isn’t that bad, it’s when you start making more than one and eating it daily that gets you.
Not too long ago I messed around with different grilled cheese buttering methods. My ingredients, as basic and to some unappealing were simple slices of white bread and kraft singles. Cooked each in a skillet on low-med with a lid for melting consistency. For fats I tried butter, margarine, mayo, ghee and olive oil. For the different taste in ingredients, I didn't notice too much difference to be picky over, that being said, I would still rank them Margarine, Olive Oil, Butter, Mayo then Ghee from worst to best. Ghee is just good. For my different grilling methods, I started with the basic spreading fat on bread. I tried all but the olive oil, and my results were your standard nostalgic grilled cheese. Nice and golden, nothing extravagant, but good. worth noting that butter and ghee should be room temp or else they are not spreadable. Next I tried fat in pan only. I didn't do mayo for this as it was a bit too awkward. This went a little poorly. without having any barrier, the bread just soaked up the excess fat in the pan and sogged out before grilling. I tried less fat in the pan to similar results. Aside from a little bit of excess fat, the bread toasted edge to edge beautifully, getting the perfect level of crunch even over the crust that normally doesn't happen with spreading fats. The final product still tasted delicious, just required way more fat to grill. The margarine underperformed. Butter was decent, but it definitely started getting a little too dark by the end. Olive oil held temp great and gave a good even cook, and ghee was just fantastic. Soaked in that amazing butter flavor without burning. The last method I tried and this was the most risky to my health was double grilled. I would give the bread a super light spread, cook it super blond, let it rest for a moment while I quickly wipe out the skillet, then toss some fat in the pan and finish cooking. This was the best of both worlds. It had an absolutely gorgeous crunch, edge to edge golden crispy grilled bread. It didn't sog out because the initial grill prevented excess fat from the pan fry to get soaked up. The result was an incredibly tasty, gorgeous fat filled masterpiece. Weirdly enough I think it took less fat overall than the pan only method, definitely more than the traditional spread. For this Ghee once again shined strong. I paired mayo with olive oil and it was also pretty good. Butter was solid and margarine existed. Is this method worth it? probably not. It was damn good tho.
You should try putting really thin slivers of butter inside the bread with the cheese, or buttering the inside of the bread, just cook as normal. It’s entirely unhealthy but it guarantees a cheese pull regardless of how much cheese you use (:
There's a word for sandwiches that have things other than cheese. Melt - Definition: A type of sandwich consisting of bread, some sort of filling, and a layer of cheese, sometimes grated. The sandwich is then grilled or fried until the cheese is melted.
The oof that he went so far out of his way to get English Cheddar and then bought $20 worth of Welsh Cheddar Though it does seem Babbish was attempting to recreate Welsh Rarebit anyway so, accidental win I guess
@@sirllamalot1980 Black Bomber I've had a long time ago and if I recall it makes your cheeks twitch with the maturity of the Cheddar - I think it was that cheeses. A good cheese.
There has already been an answer to the debate: A grilled cheese must only have cheese in it. Anything other than cheese would turn it into a melt. Also, still waiting for the Arby’s Beef & Cheddar versus between Josh Weissman, Guga/SVE, Sam the Cooking Guy, and Matty Matheson.
I half agree but then it turns into the Mexican thing where every single variation you do on anything gives it a new name so it's near impossible to talk about getting a taco without some annoying kid telling you how "that's not a taco because it has x in it and instead it should be a Madre Teresa de Calcuta con queso" or some shit like that
@@wsDiA_vd Well not so much. In the US, it's just a few categories for this. Only cheese = grilled cheese. Add anything else and it's a melt. Chicken melt, steak melt, pepperoni melt, whatever you put in there. If the sandwich is pressed and grilled it's a panini, doesn't matter if it's only cheese or it has other things - or even if it doesn't have cheese.
I love the concept of the first recipe being a completely reasonable but amazing version!! Honestly that’s the one we’re most likely to replicate if presented the way you did
It's a Food Wishes recipe that was later modified by Chlebowski who wanted to honor chef John and Babish who might have been out to redeem a failed Welsh rarebit experiment.
Real talk though, a hot sandwich is simply a grilled cheese sandwich with meat(s) or vegetable(s), etc. You're just adding things to the grilled cheese. There's nothing original about that.
i think as long as everything you add is dairy, egg (like as an egg wash or in the mayo), seasoning, or grain, youve retained the original ingredients and can add whatever.
None of them count if that's the definition you use. They were not grilled, they were fried. And also since you don't just put a block of cheese in your frying pan, they were "fried sandwiches", not "fried cheeses". Though if you want the word cheese in there you can call it a "fried cheese sandwich".
@@Gamesaucer when was the last time you put some sauce on your game? You sound so pedantic that if you're not already a British celibate from the 1920s you will become one soon, voluntarily or not. You know what was meant but still had to jerk yourself off proving them "wrong".
Very bad production. He was just thrown into a situation and told to make a sandwich but was screwed from the start with the type of cheese his crew grabbed.
We didn't really have grilled cheese sandwiches growing up. We had grilled cream cheese, zaatar and olive sandwiches in pita bread. Just spread cream cheese on one side of the pita, sprinkle zaatar and a few slices of black olives. Then grill in a frying pan with olive oil.
Babish’s sandwich is essentially rarebit sauce over a grilled cheese in case you want a simplified version. Also if you’re going for a English cheddar go to your deli at the grocery store and try some.
Grilled cheese can be done in so many creative ways. I was recently in Puerto Rico and there was a chocolate restaurant I went to called Chocobar (they also have a location in the South Bronx), and they had an amazing chocolate grilled cheese! It was brioche bread, 3 slices of yellow cheddar, and the bread was toasted in a chocolate butter, which also got lightly spread on the inside pieces of the bread, and it was dusted with powdered sugar
My favorite simple/classic (bit with a twist) grilled cheese is from Chef John at Food Wishes. He adds some shredded cheddar to the outside of the bread when toasting it so you basically have the melted gooey cheese on the inside but on the outside you get some nice crusty cheese. It's so good!
My favorite grilled cheese is bread (preferably Dave’s killer thin sliced but any will work!), shredded cheese (preferably Colby Jack - but whatever hard meltable cheese), frozen chopped spinach thawed, and a fat (butter or otherwise). Start with two slices of bread in the pan (if you prefer a harder bread pre toast the bread to taste in your toaster) with the fat spread on the facing down side. In a bowl (or go wild like I tend to and just kinda mix/layer on to save having to wash a bowl) mix equal parts cheese and spinach then layer on the bread amount to taste (I prefer about a 2cm height of filling. Then flip one slice of bread over the other and toast / melt on low heat to melt the filling (flipping the sandwich as needed. (Optional if you are in a rush after browning / toasting the bread pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds bursts to melt the filling). Enjoy your sandwich with whatever dip you like or plain. I like it with sugar free ketchup or a spinach artichoke dip.
The perfect accompaniment to a grilled cheese sandwich (white bread, butter, American cheese) is a bowl of Campbell's Tomato soup. It's a beloved Canadian classic.
If you wanna get the cheese to melt, put a cover over the pan and put a few drops of water into the hot pan. Make sure to do it away from the bread so it doesnt get soggy and cover right away
As someone obsessed with Kenji's grilled cheese recipe, you should look at it like a plain canvas. You learn the basics, use American cheese for meltiness, use soft white bread, and cook it slowly- but other than that, you can add whatever you want and do it as you like it. I think that's what Kenji aims for when he creates his recipes, teaching you the basics, and the structure of a recipe. It's up to you to experiment with what you like best. Add bacon, change the cheese, use mayo and not butter, or a different sauce- it's just a canvas :)
Sodium citrate is absolutely slightly acidic. It's basically salt combined with citric acid, and it works better for making silky smooth chees sauces, like for trying to get a homemade version of mac and cheese that's just as smooth as the store bought stuff. But just mixing it with shredded cheese like that isn't really going to do much. Not sure what Guga was thinking tbh.
I love making grilled cheeses with sourdough, a layer of Mayo and mustard on the inside, a slice of pepper Jack cheese, and cooked with butter. Super simple and super tasty ☺️ I add some spinach and tomatoes after to make myself feel healthy 😂
David don't know if you have one near you, but the best deals on high quality cheeses, is usually at Aldi grocery stores. I regularly get English cheddar, or Gruyere at Aldi for a decent price. Sodium Citrate needs to be melted into a sauce before using it, or indeed it will be sour. Sodium Citrate is literally "sour salt"
I’ve been a loyal follower since your Oreo challenge around 7 years ago. When I found your channel I was a recently divorced young queer person looking for some comfort viewing. You’ve been a great supplier of food, laffs, and fun for me over the years. From this OG - I say a hearty thank you for the content!
For the butter vs mayo debate, you have to keep in mind some people are referring to margarine when they talk about butter, since it is cheaper. If comparing the cheap options, of margarine vs mayo, mayo wins. It has a good flavor and browns real nice, whereas margarine has good flavor but does not cooperate when browning. Both lose by a landslide to real butter though, it just gives superior flavor and browning.
Aged cheese actually is lactose free, or close to it, and contains like 99% less lactose than regular milk, and in some cases the amounts are so low they are indictable. In the ageing process the lactose is broken down. And it doesn’t need to be aged for years like say a Parmesan. But just the normal amount is plenty, so any yellow cheese that you can slice is essentially lactose free. As long as it’s not a white fresh cheese like say fresh mozzarella, cream cheese, ricotta. Those fresh cheeses all have plenty of lactose in them. (Though Brie even if it’s appears like a soft white cheese, actually is a aged cheese, and is lactose free) But this doesn’t apply to ehm American cheese-like products. There the colour or texture isn’t a indicator of anything for them. It needs to be a cheese made like you traditionally make cheese.
If my mouth is craving a grilled cheese... Sweetheart, she's getting some basic ass bread and some basic ass sliced cheese. But if those cooks want to make one of theirs for me, I will happily enjoy them :) Thanks David
Love the video. However, I feel as if a better Babish grilled cheese to try would be the Regular Show grilled cheese he recreated! Oh, so simple, but Babish proved that a lot can go into even a seemingly simple dish.
Wait...is this a first win for Kenji?! Like, in my own opinion...Guga lost because it was a steak sandwich and not a grilled cheese...all the hype for the basics man! Heck yeah!
Sodium citrate is great if you're trying to make a homemade queso dip or something, but on a grilled cheese just doesn't make a ton of sense. To work its magic it needs to get stirred into the cheese, not melted in place
for vegans OR DAIRY SENSITIVE PPL AS I AM i am in love with the daiya cheddar or american cheese slices for a classic grilled cheese they melt so good i cant ever tell the difference 😭❤️
I use sodium citrate in cheese sauces for mac & cheese and fettucini alfredo. I've never used it like you do here. After butter, onion, garlic, and half and half (or whatever my recipe is) is heated in the pan that's when I put it in. In liquid and *before* I put in cheese, so that's quite a different scenario to you putting a spoonful in a bowl of cheese. I stir it in until the crystals have fully dissolved into the sauce. Also, I usually use 1/2-1 teaspoon for a dish that is being made for at least 5 people.
Trisodium citrate (more commonly known as sodium citrate) is actually a mild alkali/base. It has a tart flavor, which is how basic compounds usually taste. Acidic compounds taste sour.
I think it’s transferred to the wire rack instead of leaving it in the cast iron pan to prevent the bottom from burning. You’d have the residual heat in the pan already and then it would heat up more under the broiler.
I think that’s the beautiful cheese shelf at the grocery store near us. I remember the day I walked into STORE REDACTED and it was brand new and huge and filled with sooo much cheese I wanted to cry with happiness. XD
1st one looked ideal for 4 triangles & tomato soup dunking🙂 I like whole grain or rustic breads, butter and for cheese Kraft singles, Swiss and gruyere if I'm being extra. Sometimes I'll very lightly sprinkle some Nature's Seasoning on the buttered bread prior to grilling. Great video!
You need to try the Really Awesome Black Bean Burgers from Kenji, in my opinion its one of the best recipes in the internet. Chipotle mayo is a gamechanger.
My favorite viral grilled cheese (from before "viral" was a thing) is from Ham on the Street. He had bingo cages to pick a random bread, a random cheese, and a random jam, and any combination worked. It's food magic.
I went to a place in London recently that only does grilled cheese. They look a lot like Babish's version. I don't think I've ever eaten so much cheese in one sitting before but it was delicious.
I like my grilled cheese with gouda, ham or slices of kielbasa and fresh tomatoes with garlic or onion. As for bread I just use whatever I have and would go stale otherwise. :) The disney one looks good to me but I like cream cheese so maybe thst's why.
If you want a really decent grilled cheese that doesn't take too much longer to do, what I do is use my favorite bread (whatever you choose is fine), spread mayo on both sides and toast it in the pan, take them out and put your cheeses in right away (I find that American can be a little too salty, but muenster and havarti work very well together, along with extra sharp cheddar to give some zing), and before you put it back into the pan, use some mexican style shredded cheese in the pan. Put the sandwich on top of that cheese, and wait for it to crisp where it's not difficult to get a spatula under. When you get the sandwich on the spatula, put more Mexican blend cheese down, put the bare side of the sandwich in that little pile, wait until crisp again, and then you're done. If you want to offset the saltiness a bit, some pepper in the sandwich works well. But yeah, super fun to use Mexican cheese as its own bread product replacement too, like for quesadillas! Also, the crisp Mexican cheese on the outside of the bread keeps everything nice and crunchy for a long while.
I’m English and didn’t even know ‘English cheddar’ was a thing that was any different from American cheddar 😂 but the best one from over here is definitely cathedral city - it’s cheap too
The English cheese is not English!! It's from Snowdonia witch is in Wales so it's technically Welsh. You need good old Cheddar Gorge cheese or just mature Cheddar from Tescos 🏴 🏴 love the videos!
Try ricotta or Greek yogurt for buffalo chicken instead of cream cheese! Lower calorie higher protein and tastes just as good without cream cheese! Only problem is the separate a little bit literally just stir after it sits and back to normal. It’s delicious!
Sodium citrate is absolutely the source of that acid you're tasting in Guga's sandwich. I've had great luck with sodium citrate in mac and cheese but it never works correctly in grilled cheese for me. It either doesn't melt right or you add so much you can taste the sour
I love how this was off the rails before it started. Out of the steak sandwich, "Buffalo" chicken sandwich, grilled cheese sandwich and beer-free Welsh rarebit, I'd go rarebit every time. (If I were a dairy person and you put the beer back in.) Also: David, as a time saver, the OG Buffalo wing flavor is from Frank's RedHot Original. Anything else is just a tryhard copy. Thanks for another fun video. 👍
A perfect grilled cheese in my opinion is sourdough with good salted butter spread edge to edge, muenster, american and sharp cheddar. Little bit of EVOO in the pan.
To me, a Grilled cheese classification depends on how complex it is. The Disney buffalo one is to complex and i will classify it as a grilled sandwich. However the Guga foods one is a grilled cheese because the only thing that is added to it is the beef, so the overall complexity is low. but yes, Kenji's is the classic champion. When it comes to the cheese blends, it depends on the cheese you grew up with, so i would go with emmentaler and Gouda, while cheddar is something i rarely use
You used too much citrate. That's why Guga's was off tasting. Sodium citrate is like MSG: a little goes a long way but it's easier to overdo it. That said I find it funny Kenji kicked Disney in the nuts with a basic grilled cheese. I have issues with Disney and like to see their recipes brought down a peg.
You should try Adam Ragusea's grilled cheese. Its not his recipe (he got it from a restaurant) but its really good and simple. It uses brioche bread, swiss and cheddar. And the chef ensure the cheese melts by doing some weird thing by covering it and then splashing water around it. Made it many times and I never cared for grilled cheese before it.
Wagu?? Buffalo chicken??? Well I never! A grilled cheese consists of only these following items. Cheese. Bread with spread (usually butter). This entire subreddit consist of "melts". Almost every "grilled cheese" sandwich i see on here has other items added to it. The fact that this subreddit is called "grilledcheese" is nothing short of utter blasphemy. Let me start out by saying I have nothing against melts, I just hate their association with sandwiches that are not grilled cheeses. Adding cheese to your tuna sandwich? It's called a Tuna melt. Totally different. Want to add bacon and some pretentious bread crumbs with spinach? I don't know what the hell you'd call that but it's not a grilled cheese. I would be more than willing to wager I've eaten more grilled cheeses in my 21 years than any of you had in your entire lives. I have one almost everyday and sometimes more than just one sandwich. Want to personalize your grilled cheese? Use a mix of different cheeses or use sourdough or french bread. But if you want to add some pulled pork and take a picture of it, make your own subreddit entitled "melts" because that is not a fucking grilled cheese. I'm not a religious man nor am I anything close to a culinary expert. But as a bland white mid-western male I am honestly the most passionate person when it comes to grilled cheese and mac & cheese. All of you foodies stay the hell away from our grilled cheeses and stop associating your sandwich melts with them. Yet again, it is utter blasphemy and it rocks me to the core of my pale being. Shit, I stopped lurking after 3 years and made this account for the sole purpose of posting this. I've seen post after post of peoples "grilled cheeses" all over reddit and it's been driving me insane. The moment i saw this subreddit this morning I finally snapped. Hell, I may even start my own subreddit just because I know this one exists now. You god damn heretics. Respect the grilled cheese and stop changing it into whatever you like and love it for it what it is. Or make your damn melt sandwich and call it for what it is. A melt.