Ah, the grilled cheese sandwich.

It’s been a staple of the U.S. diet for decades, and is usually one of the first dishes most American children learn to make.

With only three main ingredients (bread, cheese, shortening), it’s also one of the most simple and delicious culinary fares our blessed country has to offer.

We recently caught up with Matt Fish, the head chef of Cleveland’s own Melt Bar and Grilled, to learn the secrets of making the perfect grilled cheese sandwich. 

We can promise you this: We’ll never make our grilled cheese the same way again.

Step 1: Choose Your Bread and Your Butter 

The bread is where any good grilled cheese begins. Matt Fish recommends using a homemade artisan loaf, that’s a mix between French and Italian to get the perfect combination of crunchy exterior and velvety interior. Cut your bread into one inch slices, and smear a thin layer of vegan margarine (or regular butter) on both sides, from edge to edge.

Step 2: Brown Your Bread, Low and Slow 

Place the buttered bread onto a low-to-medium heated surface- a commercial flat top grill works just as well as your at-home fry pan. Fish says it’s important to brown the bread low and slow, so the outside becomes a crunchy, golden brown, while the inside starts to cook again, releasing a nutty flavor. This is the point where most people commit their first grilled cheese sandwich making error, Fish says. If you initially put the bread on too hot a surface, it’ll burn and you’ll have to start over. Remember, low and slow does the trick.

Step 3: Watch the Butter

As you’re browning the bread, pay attention to the color and consistency of your shortening. When you notice it’s yellow and melty-looking, the bread is finished on one side. If the butter is still white, leave it be for another minute or so.

Step 4: Flip the Bread

That’s right, Fish browns his bread on both sides before putting on the cheese. Betcha didn’t think of doing that. 

Fish says a double-sided toasting makes the bread more stable for the cheese and other toppings. This is a major game changer here.

Step 5: Remove from Heat

Once the bread is golden brown on both sides, remove it from the heat, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Like so:

Step 6: Cheese It

This is the step you’ve been waiting for (we know). 

Using your cheese of choice (Fish uses American), place two one-ounce slices on each piece of bread. 

Should you decide to include other toppings (i.e. bacon, tomatoes, really whatever you want) this is when you’d load ’em up.

Step 7 : Bake It

Place the cheesed-up bread open-faced into a 350-400 degree oven.

The middle rack works well. Leave it in for about 3 minutes or until your cheese melts. If you’re using a shredded cheese, Fish says, it’ll melt more quickly.

Here’s what it should look like when the cheese has melted:

Step 8: Fold the Bread

After the cheese melts, remove it from the oven and fold the bread on top of itself.

Step 8: Cut, Plate, and Enjoy!

Cut your sandwich in half.

Plate it.

Serve with a pickle spear and hand-cut fries, and enjoy! You’ve just made the perfect grilled cheese sandwich. 

You can find this particular sandwich on the menu at Melt Bar and Grilled. It’s called The Kindergarten.

This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2013.

Alaina Nutile is the Web Editor who oversees all digital content and social media initiatives for Cleveland Scene Magazine and Detroit Metro Times. Before joining the staff in June 2013, she interned at Business Insider in New York City, and at La Hora in Quito, Ecuador. Alaina is a graduate of Kalamazoo College in Michigan, where she double majored in English and Spanish. Her interests include Japanese food, Breaking Bad, and career development advising.

17 replies on “How to Make the Perfect Grilled Cheese Sandwich, According to Melt Bar and Grilled”

  1. One of the staples of making a grilled cheese sandwich which is that it can be done quickly. This method although no doubt tasty takes too long. It’s a grilled cheese sandwich not a twice grilled then baked sandwich. Not to mention who just happens to have artisan breads? Not everyone can afford to spend 7 bucks for a loaf of bread from Bread smith.

  2. Good quality bread is one of the cheapest upgrades you can buy. $4-$5 for a great loaf of bread from any number of bakeries, and cheaper if you go during Blackbird’s happy hour.

  4. How the profesionals make a Grilled Cheese sandwich. I might add that having eaten at Melt, they know how to make a Grilled Cheese sandwich.

  5. I make my own artisan breads—-it’s easy and cheap! As a grilled cheese lover (the first thing I ever cooked was a grilled cheese at the tender age of 7,) I think that I will give this method a try—if I’m cooking, what’s a few more minutes? If the oven is hot, the cheese will melt quickly and it really doesn’t take that long to brown the bread–slowly is subjective here. I think it would be worth the wait to have an amazing sandwich—I think I’ll go make myself one now!

  7. I’ve always toasted my bread on two sides, once you flip it the first time, put the cheese on then to help it melt – no oven necessary. In lieu of artisan bread, Milbrook Honey Wheat (orange bag marked Cleveland born, Cleveland bread) makes for some great tasting grilled cheese. Quick, simple, and tasty.

  8. He loses all credibility at the point where he tells us to use crappy, processed Kraft singles. Why put industrial “cheese product” on artisanal bread when there are a zillion delicious and incredible artisanal cheeses to choose from?

  9. Mom made grilled cheese in the broiler when I was a kid. I am yet to have a better grilled cheese than mom’s

  12. personally i prefer wheat bread i think it tastes and grills best and a THIN layer of butter is definitely key.

  14. This method seems tedious to me……..guess they need a reason to charge $10 for a grilled cheese sandwich and fries. No thanks.

  16. The bread is so thick and the crappy processed cheese so thin you really can’t taste anything. Better cheese, thinner bread. That’s why Melt is completely overrated.

  17. Since I was a kid, we always put sliced dill pickles in the sandwich. You gotta try it! Bltoth

Comments are closed.