The Best Grilled Cheese You'll Ever Make

I'm Frank Proto,

professional chef and culinary instructor.

And today I'm gonna show you the best way

to make grilled cheese at home, Frank-style.

We're talking everything you need to know

to make the crispiest, crunchiest,

cheesiest grilled cheese sandwich you've ever had.

This is grilled cheese 101.

当你谈论烤奶酪,夏娃ryone has an opinion.

There are tons of variables

when it comes to a really good grilled cheese.

You got your bread, you got your mayonnaise or butter.

You have the cheese that you use as well.

I believe mine is the best.

[gentle music]

The bread that I like to use for my grilled cheese

has a very tight crumb.

Now, if you don't know anything about bread,

the inside is the crumb.

I don't want lots of holes in here.

So the Wonder bread is okay.

You know, it's a nice slice. It's got a nice tight crumb.

I find that when you use this type of bread,

the outside gets nice and crispy,

but the inside gets a little pasty.

And I don't like the texture of it when it's cooked.

Versus this loaf. This one's a little sturdier.

It's got a nice crust.

The crumb is pretty tight and it's not mushy

and it won't get pasty when it's cooked.

Sourdough is delicious, but once you start toasting it,

it's like razor blades on the roof of your mouth.

和这s also has a lot of air pockets in it,

which for bread is great,

but for grilled cheese isn't great.

The cheese just kind of slips through.

It's less of a sandwich

and more of crispy cheese with bread around it.

This bread is kind of a nice marriage

between a really nice loaf and a store-bought white.

It has the best of both worlds.

[gentle music]

All right, it's time to get funky with the cheese.

I have a block of Gruyere cheese.

Gruyere cheese is Swiss cheese's stinkier, smellier cousin.

If you've never had it, it is delicious.

It's got some funk to it.

It's expensive, but, what we're we're also gonna use,

is something a little cheaper.

American cheese.

Each of these cheeses have properties

that I like in a grilled cheese sandwich.

The American cheese, nice and melty.

The Gruyere cheese, really flavorful.

Put these two together

and we have a really nice combination of cheeses.

We're gonna start out by shredding our Gruyere cheese.

We're gonna cut the rind off.

Whenever I grate cheese,

I like to make a small piece, right?

This piece is really big.

And I have decent sized hands,

但是这个是我的手太大。

So I take a smaller piece of cheese.

And when I grate it, grater on the side.

Not like this. I call that granny style.

I put the grater on the side.

I hold the tray and the grater together and I push.

This way, you're doing less work.

You're using your body weight, not necessarily your muscles.

I will never use pre-shredded cheese for these sandwiches

because pre-shredded cheese has things in there

that stop them from sticking together,

which also makes them not melt really great.

Not melty enough, not good.

Shred your own cheese.

[gentle music]

What I'm looking to do here is get a nice crunchy exterior

and a nice melty interior.

And everything about that is controlling your heat

and getting the timing right.

Let's get into it. Medium low heat.

If I have it on high,

my bread's gonna burn before my cheese is melted.

And then I'm gonna get some mayonnaise.

I hear all you haters out there.

Mayonnaise, not butter? What, are you crazy?

Yes, I'm crazy.

Mayonnaise, in my opinion, is the better thing to use here,

for a grilled cheese.

It's got a little more zip, a little more flavor.

It doesn't burn like butter.

You brush it on the bread

so that you get a nice, even browning on your bread.

And then what I do is I take that

and I put it in my pan, right?

So the first layer's down.

And then I'm gonna add my American cheese.

And I'm not worried if my cheese overflows on the sides.

Part of the reason I'm using a non-stick pan

is because I'm kind of hoping that happens.

The cheese kind of like goes over the sides,

gets in the holes and gets super crunchy.

And I want little bits and pieces of that

because I think it just makes the overall experience better.

So I'm gonna do about three slices Gruyere.

The fact that the Gruyere is shredded

makes it melt a little quicker.

But I'm gonna try and go all the way up to the edges.

I like to season the inside

of my sandwich with salt and pepper.

Cheese has a lot of salt content.

But I think that a little more salt

makes this all the more better.

Just to kind of bump up that cheese flavor.

I find just doing this or assembling it in the pan,

you don't have to transport it.

You don't get mayonnaise on your hands.

It's just a lot easier to do it this way.

And then this goes on top.

Make sure that you match. And now we wait.

The reason I like to do this over low heat

is that it makes it more foolproof.

The bread's gonna cook slowly and crisp up.

The cheese is gonna melt all the way through.

It takes a little more time, but it's worth it.

How many times have you had a burnt

on the outside grilled cheese

with the cheese that's not melted in the middle?

It is just a cheese sandwich. It is not a grilled cheese.

So to make sure this isn't burning,

I just check once in a while to see where we're at.

But we're not even really getting brown yet.

And that's okay. Let's turn this.

Oh my Lord, look at that.

Come on. How does that not make you smile? Look at that.

Look, I have some cheese toasties on the edge.

Even I'm impressed with myself. [laughs]

So you'll know that your cheese is starting to melt

is when you try and pull this top piece of bread off

and it sticks, right?

That means the cheese is melting

and holding everything together.

One caution here, give it a little more time than you think.

Because the center usually takes a little longer

than the rest of the outside of the sandwich.

My cheese is starting to melt

and that's gonna gimme a nice crispy edge.

That is the stuff right there. That makes me happy.

This is looking wonderful.

I'm getting some cheese leaking out the side

and getting crispy in the pan.

It's gonna be great.

[gentle music]

Get your hot grilled cheese sandwich.

Make sure you have chef hands, but look at that.

This is what I'm talking about.

This is what makes me happy

when I see a grilled cheese sandwich.

Little bit of cheese leaking out and getting crispy, okay?

Nice brown, nice and crisp.

I'm gonna cut it in half.

Quick downward motion. Put it on the plate.

The only thing I can think to make this sandwich better

is a handful of crunchy potato chips.

And that is my perfect grilled cheese sandwich.

Let's look at this baby.

Oh, we got some cheese pull there. Look at that!

So when you open up this sandwich,

you can see, my cheese is fully melted.

It's gooey and delicious.

I have crunchy cheese along the edges.

My bread is nice and crispy.

Come on.

Is that not a beautiful grilled cheese sandwich?

This sandwich has everything.

Creaminess, cheesiness, crispiness. It hits all the notes.

And that's why I think

it's the best grilled cheese sandwich out there.