Dutch Grilled Cheese

This week's sandwich is definitely our most adventurous yet-- not just because it involves more elements than we have used so far, but also because it incorporates ingredients and flavors that I haven't had much experience with in general.  Reading through the recipe I knew I recognized Gouda cheese, but couldn't remember exactly what it tasted like.  In addition to that I vaguely remembered having a distaste for rye bread, but couldn't quite recall why.  And I certainly had no idea what cumin tasted like.  Apparently the recipe's combination of Gouda and cumin is intended to mimic a Dutch cheese called Leyden cheese which (according to Wikipedia) is a yellow cumin spiced cheese made in the Netherlands from semi-skimmed cow's milk.  Logical all around considering Gouda is a yellow cheese made in the Netherlands and we are literally adding cumin to it.

While searching for my ingredients I had a hard time deciding exactly what to do where bread was concerned as the recipe called for rye bread with caraway seeds but, as I mentioned, I don't like rye.  I called my trusty shopping resource (Mom) to get her opinion on what I should do.  She said that rye is a pretty strong flavor and that if I remember disliking it that it's probably too strong for my taste.  However, while browsing around I found some rye bread that didn't have caraway seeds in it and I decided that this would be a good compromise since the bread is still made with the same basic grain, but doesn't have too strong of a taste for me to still enjoy it.  The bread itself is VERY dense, which I think is part of what makes it so unique. 

 Moving over to the spice aisle I saw that a container of cumin seeds cost ~$6, so I called my shopping resource back to see if she had any I could use.  I was in luck, but it was powdered cumin instead of cumin seeds-- as it saved me a good chunk of change I decided the substitution was acceptable.

The first step after accumulating the ingredients was thinly slicing a medium sized red onion and caramelizing the slivers.  Within seconds of cutting into the onion my eyes were welling up, so I could already tell this was going to be the highest score for pungency we've had yet. 

I've tried caramelizing onions before but was never successful (and now I know why).  You need to put about 1 tablespoon of butter in your non-stick pan and slowly cook the onions on a low heat until they turn a soft deep brown.  I hadn't used any sort of lubricant before, which caused the onions to burn before they were cooked appropriately.  Apparently, even if the butter proves insufficient and the onions do start to burn you can add a tablespoon or two of water and be back on track.  All in all this took about 30 minutes of cooking low and slow, but they looked delicious by the end!

Before

After

While I was cooking the onions I also grated the Gouda.  The cheese came with a thick red rind on it and per GGC's instructions, the rind was to be removed before grating.  I was surprised by how yellow the cheese looked!  And by how soft it was.  It was similar in consistency to American cheese in that it's firm enough to be solid, but is soft and crumbles easily when you try to grate it.

So now the cheese was grated and the onions were cooked.  I then moved the onions over to a separate plate and wiped out the pan with a paper towel (but didn't wash or rinse the pan).  According to the recipe I was supposed to then put 3/4 teaspoon of cumin seeds in the pan to warm them and bring out their flavor and then crush them with a mortar and pestle.  Welllll as mentioned, I didn't want to fork over the dough for the seeds and (surprise, surprise) my mortar and pestle were at the shop getting polished (is that an action that can be performed on a mortar and pestle?  I assume yes since it's made of marble).  Anyway, that is neither here nor there-- what matters is that I had to improvise a bit.  I decided to just put 1 tsp of cumin into the pan to see what happens.

As soon as I peeled the seal back from the cumin I was overwhelmed by the smell.  Said smell is best described as... Indian food?  Sweat?  Indian food that is sweating.  Regardless, this was not going to help the sandwich ingredients to be any less pungent.  Oh well, into the pan it went!  Whereas the scent of the red onions had lessened as I cooked them, the cumin only got stronger to the point that I ultimately got it off the heat to try to stop the smell.  I briefly debated not even adding it to the cheese since I didn't like the smell at all, but I figured I had already deviated enough from the recipe and didn't want to further interfere, so I went ahead and mixed it in.

Next step (as usual) was evenly distributing the cheese on top of two slices of rye bread (that have been buttered on one side) and topping them with the caramelized onions.  Then you add the second slice of buttered bread on top to complete the sandwich.  Now we're ready for grilling!

This was the biggest sandwich yet in that it occupied most of the pan and couldn't be completely covered by my standard smaller frying pan.  When it came time to flip it I needed two spatulas to lift it one of which began to buckle under the weight!  I think this has to do with the fact that the amount of cheese and filling we usually use for two sandwiches was on just one and the bread was particularly dense.

From there it was just a matter of the standard grilling on each side.  The Gouda melts very quickly-- probably because it is so soft and well grated, but also because this recipe called for cooking on medium high heat instead of medium low (most likely because of the bread's density). 

This was my first use of my sandwich warmer secondary pan idea and it worked really well!  When both sandwiches were done they were still warm and gooey and ready to be eaten.

Taste Review: Our initial reaction was very bland-- that the sandwich pretty much tasted like any other sandwich and that the pungent smell that had been there in the ingredients was gone.  The main thing that stood out at first was how GOOEY the sandwich was!  Not only were there strings of cheese connecting my mouth to the sandwich after every bite, but I would have to literally wrap them around the sandwich in order to get them to cut.  The caramelized onions made the sandwich taste sweet, which was muted by the flatter taste of the rye bread.  Overall I liked that taste since I have a big sweet tooth. 

Sadly, as we kept eating things started to go downhill.  As soon as we got a whiff of the cumin the pungent aroma was back and not in a good way.  Colin thought the onions were too sweet and didn't find the sandwich satisfying.  I agreed that the more I ate the less interested in the sandwich I was (the opposite of how I think you should feel-- when you're eating something good you never want it to end)!  The texture was the best part in that it was a substantial sandwich with lots of gooey cheese, but the taste and excitement just weren't there.  Per usual, Colin thought that ketchup made it taste better since it cut the sweetness of the onions.  All in all, this one was a disappointment.  Neither of us ended up finishing our sandwiches:

FINAL RESULTS:

Sandwich:	Dutch Grilled Cheese
Gooey-ness:	5
Aroma:	4
Appearance:	Very large, gooey, pungent but sweet.
Taste:	D+

Gooey Scale	Aroma Scale
1 = still cold/hard	1 = can’t smell a thing
2 = slightly melted but still firm	2 = tender waft
3 = melted evenly	3 = makes your stomach growl
4 = melted and slightly runny (starting to get those cheese strings between your sandwich and your mouth when you take a bite)	4 = strong scent
5 = runny	5 = overpoweringly pungent
6 = sloppy mess!

* Editor's note: 2 hours later we could still taste it... and it's still was not good.  But, if you like the flavor of cumin, caramelized onions and Gouda, then you'd LOVE this sandwich.

Up next week: Continued adventures with rye bread!