Tonight, I pretend to be a farmer, Richard pretends to be a mechanic, and James pretends it's 1975, Olly Murs is on our track and we also pretend something caught fire.
Typically, "American cheese" refers to a specific type of processed cheese which is made from either cheddar or Colby, or a mixture of the two. It's designed to melt easily and has a mild, salty flavor, and sometimes includes sodium citrate to melt more smoothly. While it is processed, that doesn't mean it's plastic or pure chemicals or something, it just goes through a blending process and we don't have great regulatory terms to deal with blended cheeses compared to single-culture cheeses. Jack is also used somewhat frequently, but when asked "do you want cheese on that?", they're nearly always referring to American or cheddar (though cheddar in the US tends to be very mature and is called "sharp"), not Jack.
@@bats__ We use the same bacterial culture, we just let it age way more as a general rule is my understanding. Any cheesemans in the audience can correct me
@@lookoutforchris It is a processed cheese. With the biggest change being the addition of Sodium Citrate so it melts easily. That's why those Kraft slices are perfect for putting on burgers because it will melt cleanly without leaving an oily trace.
I like to think I've watched James May on all kinds of platforms for the better part of my life and I can fairly say that I'm thankful for this channel since I get to see more of James being James
I like to think I've watched James May on all kinds of platforms for the better part of my life and I can fairly say that I'm thankful for this channel since I get to see more of James saying cheese FTFY
Tell me, where was monteray jack invented. California you say? Where is california? America you say? Why that would make it american cheese! Remarkable!
While there's nothing wrong with Jack cheese, it is not the default cheese here in the States. We have sliced deli cheese referred to simply as American cheese. It's made from cheddar and some Monterey Jack. That is what is put on cheese burgers or grilled cheese sandwiches.
@@Taolan8472 There is nothing wrong with American Cheese. Just because its a cheese product doesn't mean its not really cheese as its usually made from cheddar. Quality varies though as some have more preservatives for longer shelf life.
The only thing referred to as American cheese is the "cheese product" that looks and smells of plastic. The only "American cheese" that exists is extremely processed
35 years of life as an American: 1) Never once have I been given Monterey Jack as the "default" 2) Never once have I heard it called "Jack Cheese" "Jack Cheese" sounds like someone trying and failing to correctly name the chap from Monty Python.
Yeah this makes no sense. It's Cheddar, Swiss, then Pepperjack for sandwiches. American Cheese is for cheap burgers or cafeteria grilled cheese (melty). I've never seen regular Jack cheese used for anything on a menu
24 years ago in Oroville Washington, I bought a burger from Fatboy at FatBoy's Diner (does not exist anymore). I had what was called a Fat Jack and it had what Fatboy (looked like my Father in law at the time, which we told him) what he called Jack Cheese on it. The menu said Monterey Jack. Great burger. Great chicken, great shake. Great conversation. Great number of years since it happened. We were also very clearly from out of town, but also his sort of people. It was an unforgettable day, though I may misremember.
@@ADMSvare 1) I would never get such a sandwich because Monterey Jack is at best my fifth-favorite cheese. 2) As would anyone because it would be a terrible memory.
As a Canadian, when I hear American Cheese the first thing I think of is processed cheese slices (which I think originally was cheddar - now you can get a variety of types of cheese that has been processed). Interesting how James and co. actually thought of a cheese that was created in the US. Here in Canada, I think cheddar is also the default when someone asks if you want cheese on or with something.
Monetary Jack is not the American default cheese by far. • Modern American cheese is a type of processed cheese developed in the 1910s made from cheddar, Colby, or similar cheeses. It is mild with a creamy and salty flavor, has a medium-firm consistency, and has a low melting point. • Muenster cheese ... is the closest in taste to American cheese. And it has a soft and smooth texture that melts very well. You can use Muenster cheese anywhere you would American cheese as a 1-to-1 substitute.
Proper American cheese just isn't readily available over here. Monetary Jack is really probably giving it the best chance. What's usually sold as cheese singles or slices here tend to not actually contain cheddar, etc and have a lower cheese content overall, often just 30% cheese. So we just generally have bad processed cheese. Using that would have probably been worse. Even Kraft Singles haven't been readily available for quite some time now. So a lot of Brits have misconceptions when talking about this. Probably the best I've been able to find are by Kerrymaid slices sold in bulk which are 70% cheese.
If I recall correctly, didn't they do that at her house/apartment one time? I mean making food she likes, not a top 5. Was it steaks? I might go back and check.
My late father had a simple phrase that he used when cooking: "If it's brown, it's done, if it's black, it's buggered." My go-to 'toasted' cheese sandwich, is the one in Jamie Oliver's 'Comfort Food' book. Works every time.
Id like to see Clarkson supply May's kitchen with one of his farm produce and let them make a dish from it. Like maybe Diddly Squat's potatoes or something.
Interesting using Mayo for the fried side, we normally just use butter. Though the go to is to serve "Grilled Cheese" sandwiches with tomato soup. Also, maybe get a couple more pieces of cooking cutlery, like a flipping spatula (aka the flipper), and maybe a cheese knife/slicer. If another cheese showdown happens, maybe compare 2 other types, like Gouda or Havarti.
Mayo works great on the grilled side because of the makeup of the mayo so it creates a nice even color. However, having tried both I still prefer to use butter on the grilled side because of the taste. I say that as someone that loves mayo in dishes that call for it.
The "default" cheese in the U.S. is Cheddar! Ours is just a bit different than U.K. Cheddar. Monterey Jack is very common, but when people just say "cheese", they're rarely referring to it.
The default cheese in America is American Cheese, hence why it is called American Cheese. It is a cheese product primarily made of cheddar cheese but much creamier with a lower melt point. Which is why its used for grilled cheese.
@@bensonr2 I think it depends on your status if you are the lower end of the economic scale it's American Cheese. If you are in the upper it's American Cheddar. I have a pack of American cheese in my frig that been in there for 2 years. It doesn't agree with me. You can go to the stores in different economical areas and the ratio of American cheese and Cheddar will be appropriate to the area. As you get older your Grill cheese will be base on what you grew up with. I make Quesada instead of grill cheese.
Even Americans don't consider American Cheese to actually be "cheese" - it has about as much to do with cheese as Paris, Texas does to Paris, France. Inspired by, sure. Remotely the same? Not at all. On top of that, if you polled 1 million Americans, I'd bet every penny that no more than 1 in 20 could even tell you what kind of cheese "American Cheese" even is. A package of Kraft Singles simply says, "American" and "pasteurized prepared cheese product." Don't get me wrong - I love the stuff on a grilled sandwich or burger. But if someone gave me a cheese board with American Cheese on it, I'd riot.
@@kennystoneman2584 umm...American Cheese is cheese in America. Not sure what part of America you're living in. But, in America, the most American cheese is American Cheese.
Grilled cheese sandwiches made that way are American. In the UK, we use a grill when grilling things not, as James pointed out, a pan. And despite using a grill, we don't call them grilled. We call them toasted.
@@phantomechelon3628 That's rare - I think most sandwich toasters get used about three times and then sit in a cupboard for years. That's certainly the case with mine!
It's not a thing in the UK so of course they don't how how to make it the "murican" way. We just have Toasties, which are usually oven or grill cooked.
Never in 50 years of life in the US have I ever assumed that I'd be given Monterey Jack as a default "cheese". Not that it isn't common, but American cheese is the standard. That said, congratulations on an excellent troll video that will surely generate a huge number of comments LOL
Yes. Just as @Wes said, Americans think “American Cheese” when they think of cheese. Most times American Cheese is not the best, however, for a grilled cheese sandwich, or a Cheeseburger, American Cheese is one of the top three choices.
Those beeps on the induction hob are exactly the same as the one in my kitchen, which is where I’m sat, and I keep thinking I’ve left a pan on and it’s having a panic attack 😂 CHEESE!
As an American, the seemingly insignificant banter between the two about American cheese and how it melts was weirdly hilarious to me. Haha I can literally watch James do anything and it's incredible. I've watched our man in Japan so many times, and the reassembler is one of my go to programs to fall asleep to. But I de genuinely appreciate all of the random facts and information James gives while he's doing something. Also hilarious to me how they call it "American mustard" when we just call it "yellow mustard"
As an American, I can say that Monterrey Jack is not the default cheese. It’s either American or cheddar. American has a great melt point for grilled cheeses and burgers
It's because it's the only cheese from America widely available over here in the UK. Most people have no idea what American cheese is. I only know as I watch a lot of world food programs on TV
I' m relieved that you didn't choose Kraft Singles here, but Monterey Jack is more a California cheese, so I'm not sure you can call it stereotypically American. We do use it a lot in California, but I don't see it on hamburgers and such here unless I specifically request it. I use a mix of Cheddar and Monterey Jack in my "grilled cheese" sandwiches, as we call them, but have never heard of using mayonnaise on them like that. Might have to try it though! Not mustard though. 😆
James, Monterey Jack is not the cheese they put on sandwiches, it's plain old "American Cheese". Monterey Jack is different, and by the way we do have cheddar, Swiss, Colby, provolone, cooper, etc. that comes in slices. Monterey Jack is not really American cheese, but things do go better with cheddar.
“Is one slice enough?” - not if you’re making a true American grilled cheese sandwich! You want to taste the cheese, so you put on several slices. And I would always choose American or Cheddar cheese over Monterey Jack as they both melt easier.
I would love to take James to our local farmer's market, where I go shopping every friday. There's one guy from the south western part of Bavaria called "Allgäu" with a variety of cheese which would blow James' head off. I mean, even if it's only in the back of a Mercedes Sprinter, he has around 100 different kinds of cheese, from Germany, Austria, Italy, and so on.Enough cheese for pt.3 through to pt. 125 ;)
I've never seen a grilled cheese sandwich made this way before. Interesting. Since a youngster, some 45 years ago, we have always buttered one side of 2 pieces of bread edge to edge. We place the cheese between, (yes I'm American and I prefer yellow American cheese for grilled cheeses, but I do like most cheeses that are not pungent), the bread, buttered side out. We then grill it on med heat until cheese melts, and the bread is crispy golden on the outside. When the bread is blackened, we start over....
To james and the crew, I quite enjoyed James reassembling things, I would gladly watch James reassembling more things. I also enjoyed this video. Thank you. Sincerely, ##
In America we use proper fake cheese and we call them “grilled cheese sandwich’s” American cheese singles are not the same as real cheese but they melt better
@@StreetPreacherr no it doesn’t. What you’re calling “American Cheese” is not allowed to be sold in the USA as cheese. Real American cheese has been made for 300 years on this continent and it sounds like you’ve never had it.
Monterey jack is a mexican cheese, brought up from mexico by spanish friars 200+ years ago, who adapted it to the local evironment.. a guy named jack, in Monterey CA, adapted it again for the general public. Its just a mild farmer's cheese.
Because the only "American" cheese you can buy in a UK supermarket is Monterry Jack. Otherwise it would be a competition between two cheddar cheese sandwiches . . .
When the first episode was on, I was killing time in a sad air-bnb. James making a cheese butty saved my sanity. BTW, use a slender knife to cut cheese, less surface area for it to drag on.
Any particular reason why you would opt for the most difficult way to slice it imaginable, as opposed to just laying it flat and taking strips off the end?
I know you are giving us yanks the stick but all you Brits should know that there is an EPONYMOUS cheese that is generally the default cheese over on this side of the ocean. :D
Wow, you are so original. You should be a conservative politician with that fresh wit! Oh man! You must be a Hollywood writer, just whipping out zingers...kudos, man. This was amazing work. Scathing social commentary wrapped in layer upon layer of sophisticated analysis with academic and social references so perfectly intertwined, truly the work of a stunning intellect, such as the one you must, indeed, possess! I think I may have overdone it.
It's not the typical kraft American, but monterrey jack (a form of processed mozzarella) is used in many things for its browning and low moisture purposes. Chipotle uses a processed mixture of sharp white cheddar and monterrey jack for its cheese blend.
also for making a toastie in the pan, use grated cheese. put the other side on and then flip ocassiionally, thus energy gets transfered to the cheese while both sides of the bread brown.
This production made me laugh so hard. Here in the states we call this a grilled cheese or toasted cheese sandwich. Normally it is made with American cheese (that's the official name of the cheese), or alot of times with colbyjack or sharp cheddar. We in the midwest rarely use Monterey jack cheese straight.
Interesting approach, I always toast each side of the bread first on their own, then put the cheese between the 2 toasted sides together, bring it back to the pan and then toast both remaining sides. By the time the sandwich is toasted on both sides, the cheese will have melted
our default cheeses are either cheddar or "American" cheese like Velveeta. A lot of people do not like American cheese so cheddar is the most common on burgers and sandos at any respectable establishment. Also didnt think anyone could not know how to make a basic grilled cheese or butcher it so badly.
When I think "American cheese" I think specifically of Kraft Singles. Which is basically edible orange plastic and therefore the most American thing possible.
You’re a victim of marketing then. What you’re calling “cheese” is no such thing, technically and legally. And the sad thing is you probably don’t know about real American cheese. “After patenting a new method for manufacturing processed cheese in 1916, James L. Kraft began marketing it in the late 1910s, and the term "American cheese" rapidly began to refer to the processed variety instead of the traditional but more expensive cheddars also made and sold in the U.S.”
@@lookoutforchris I'm not American. American cheese as noted socially, stereotypically & internationally is either Kraft Singles or Cheeto Dust. That is America's legacy.
Never heard of Mayo on the outside of the bread and then grilled. Nor have I ever heard of Monterey Jack cheese being used on a grilled cheese sandwich. But, hey, always a first.
From a food science perspective, mayo on the outside of the bread functions as an egg wash, and can give pretty solid results when it's not, you know, burnt.
I was worried those grabbers were going to used without being tested, but thankfully James gave them a subtle clack just to make sure. It seems American "Government Cheese" should be the proper opponent to council cheese, but I don't think it's made any more.
Proper American cheese is processed cheese which I guarantee that you won't like but it does melt better. Now I have to make a grilled cheese sandwich with proper yellow American mustard which I have never ever thought of doing before but now I am intrigued. :)
James: "I'm not an expert on cheese." Also James: *has brought out Monterey Jack cheese in response to a request to use American cheese* Me, an intellectual: "Indeed."
Basically what Lucy was making was grilled cheese. However I never heard of Monterey Jack being used. Usually we just go to the grocery store and get Kraft or similar processed cheese. Where are you going to the deli and get sliced American cheese buy Land O'Lakes or similar. And then you have a nice bowl full of tomato soup yum. Except there's one thing that was wrong you don't put the mayonnaise on grilled cheese sandwich. No wonder why it burnt
