The Year in Review

Guess what the 21st marked?  The official 1 year anniversary of the Big Grilled Cheese!  To celebrate I decided to take a stroll down memory lane to re-cap some of the highs and lows of the last year.  So, without further ado, here we go!

Ingredient Hall of Fame:

Favorite Bread: Pepperidge Farm Sourdough. I've never used this on a sandwich and not liked it.

Favorite Cheeses: Even after trying a broad range of cheeses, my favorites are still some of the most basic-- Cheddar (preferably 2 year old Wegmans cheddar), Havarti and Jack.

Favorite New Discovery: Flavored Butter.  This is a revolutionary cooking technique that I am sure I'll be employing for a number of dishes in years to come. Why it never occurred to me to mix herbs/seasoning/spices/whatever with butter is beyond me, but I'm eternally grateful that I've been shown the light.

Glorious!

Best and Worst:

Best Field Report:
The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen. 

With its limited hours, this elusive spot had evaded me during my first few San Francisco trips; but it was worth waiting for.  It's no surprise that I would like the results of a sandwich featuring my three favorite cheeses (The Mousetrap), but add to that the best mac and cheese grilled cheese I've had and I'm in heaven.  Perfectly toasted bread?  Check.  Casual sidewalk dining in the San Francisco sun?  Check.  Happy Janet?  CHECK!

Disappointing.

Worst Field Report:
Icon Bar and Grill. 
The fact that this wasn't a restaurant discovered during my standard grilled cheese recon done before I travel to a city should have tipped me off to the fact that it would be sub par.  The grilled cheese here was living proof that sandwiches aren't necessarily made better just by having a lot of different cheeses on them.  Bitter goat cheese and arugula created a bland sandwich that was hardly worth my time (especially since I could've spent the same meal re-visiting Beecher's for one of their delicious signature sammies).




Best Original Creation:
Colin's Jalapeno Popper. 

The key to success here was drawing on some favorite flavors and elements-- namely guacamole, jack cheese, and spicy foods.  This showed how great specialty breads can be when used with complimentary flavors.  Even though Colin and I disagreed as to whether this was better with or without meat, we both liked some variation of this sandwich enough to want to make it again...and again...and again.



Worst Original Creation:
Inside-Out Grilled Cheese. 

What's even going on here?!

While I haven't given up on this concept, I am happy to forget about this attempt at the inside out premise.  Interestingly enough this is one of the only other grilled cheeses to make use of a specialty flavored bread and while that element was delicious, the rest of the sandwich was all over the place.  It wouldn't stay put together as a sandwich and the final result was so salty I could barely tell what was what.  I am determined to make this work one day, but probably with completely different ingredients and construction.

Underrated:
Cheesy Gashouse Grilled Cheese. 

I made this one so early on in the game that it's easy to forget about it, but it's an out of the ordinary but simple and delicious sandwich that can likely be made with ingredients you already have.  Plus, you get the bonus of mini grilled cheeses courtesy of the center of each sandwich!

Aww, how precious :-)

Strangest Use of a Grilled Cheese:
Grilled Cheese Martini. 

The name says it all.



The Worst Grilled Cheese:
Portobello and Provolone.
 

Beefy, smelly, runny, crazy looking.  All in all an unforgettable sandwich in the worst way.

The Best Grilled Cheese:

... still to be revealed!  Stay tuned for a full recap of Colin and my respective favorites as well as our mutually agreed upon best sandwich of all! (so far)