Not too long ago I got a comment on one of my posts asking if I've ever experimented with pickles on my grilled cheese. Up until then I hadn't, but it sounded like a great idea, so I started plotting the best way to bring some pickles into the mix on a future sandwich. After the resounding success of the onion ring grilled cheese, I decided that fried pickles may just be the way to go here.
But while brainstorming sandwich specifics with Colin, we decided that just pickles and cheese may not be quite right. Somehow we happened upon the idea of pulled pork as an additional ingredient. I had encountered a delicious pulled pork grilled cheese during my second trip to Cheesie's Pub and Grub in Chicago, and while it was good, our iteration is different. The main difference is that we decided to go with Carolina-style barbeque instead of the sweeter/ketchup based barbeque that Cheesie's used. We hoped that the Carolina barbeque's vinegar base would compliment the acidity of the pickles and leave room for the cheese to shine. With the basic recipe in mind we were ready to get down to business.
Ingredients:
* Pepperidge Farm Sourdough (the creme de la creme of grilled cheese breads)
* 8 ounces cheddar
* 8 ounces jack
* Carolina-style pulled pork (I didn't have time to make my own, so store bought had to suffice)
* Dill pickle slices
* Flour, beer, egg, and seasoning for beer batter
* Vegetable oil for frying
I started off by heating about 2" of vegetable oil in a pan while I worked on mixing up the beer batter. This is done by combining 1 egg with 1 cup of flour and adding 1 cup of beer; but in this case I accidentally added too much beer. Fortunately the great thing about beer batter is that the recipe is pretty free form-- too much beer? Add some more flour. I also sprinkled in a little garlic powder and Cajun spice and was ready to roll.
Next up I coated the pickle slices and tossed them in the hot oil. I'm not sure how long I ended up cooking the pickles, but I just eyeballed it and made sure to take them out once they turned golden brown.
Finished pickles would sit on a paper towel to allow their excess oil to drip off.
While I was frying sous chef had been working on grating the cheeses, so all that was left to do once the pickles were done was to heat up some of the pulled pork.
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| Made in Nebraska? Wow, it must be authentic. |
Colin's step-sister Ellen was joining us for dinner this week so we decided to make 3 sandwiches (we figured these would be hearty enough that we wouldn't need two per person).
Step one: Butter one side of each slice of bread and place face down, then distribute the pickles evenly on the bread.
Step two: Add as much pork as you see fit. I just sort of gave it a solid layer of pork that wasn't so monstrous that I didn't also have room for the cheese.
Step three: Add as much cheese as you see fit which, in my case, is a lot. These were pretty thick sammies by the time I was through with them. Finally, top each sandwich with another slice of bread and butter the outside.
These fried up quite nicely (as is always the case with Pepperidge Farm Sourdough), but definitely required a dual spatula attack to flip them so as not to lose lots of filling. For a refresher on what I mean by the dual spatula method, here's a shot from back when I used it on the Havarti and Dilled Cucumbers on Rye.
Keeping pressure on both sides means the sandwich stays together.
The cheese melted quickly and in no time we were ready to go!
Taste Review:
As usual, aroma is the first thing we assess and in this case there really wasn't one. I think if we had cooked the barbeque pork ourselves that would've been the dominant scent, but in this case there wasn't a particularly noticeable scent. Biting into the sandwich the first thing anyone commented on was the gooiness of the cheese. It was melted very evenly and spread nicely over the barbeque. Speaking of the barbeque, we all agreed that using Carolina barbeque was a wise decision. You could taste its flavor and spices, but it didn't have an overwhelming sauce. Although, as usual, Colin wanted more meat.
Now let's talk pickles. Part of the reason I don't usually like pickles on my sandwiches is because they're too salty but, thanks to the batter, the pickles are both salty and sweet-ish (not sure sweet is the right word for beer batter, but the batter does help to control the salt level, which gives it a sweet effect). One observation about the pickles was that they weren't crispy, but that was a non-issue which can likely be attributed to the fact that the pickles were thinly sliced. We all agreed that the batter could use some more flavor-- maybe some spicier pepper or more garlic, or really whatever floats your boat. The additional flavor in the batter would only help the pickles to stand out, which in my mind is a good thing. Something that had frustrated me during the batter dipping process was that the batter tended to run off of the pickles quickly, so in addition to adding more flavor to the batter I would also maybe let the pickles soak in the batter for a little longer to see if that helps them to absorb more batter.
We've already noted that the cheese helped the sandwich seem gooey but, while gooey, the sandwich wasn't at all creamy. By this I mean the pork was on the drier/crumbly side and Colin argued that it would need more sauce to qualify as true "Carolina barbeque." I said I liked it this way and would worry that too much sauce would make the sandwich soggy. Ellen suggested serving additional Carolina barbeque sauce (vinegar based) on the side sort of like an au jus, which I think would be good because then you could control your own level of soggy.
FINAL RESULTS:
Sandwich:
|
Pulled Pork and Fried Pickle Grilled Cheese
|
Gooey-ness:
|
3
|
Aroma:
|
1.5
|
Appearance:
|
Let's be honest, the grayish-brown color of the pork makes this one look kind of ugly.
|
Taste:
|
A- |
I fought hard for this A- and Colin still doesn't agree. He says that more meat and more sauce are necessary to make this true Carolina BBQ, but I remind him that this is supposed to be a GRILLED CHEESE. I think this was a great balance of flavors that added a savory element, but still allowed the cheese to shine.
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! |
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