Field Report: Ms. Cheezious Food Truck

Time for yet another work trip, which means another field report!  This week I find myself in sunny (? it's actually rainy today) Miami where I had a couple of different options for grilled cheesin'.  One was a restaurant and two were food trucks-- in terms of which to go to, no clear front runner presented itself in the time leading up to my visit, so I decided to play it by ear upon arrival.  Imagine my delight when I found out that there was going to be a food truck rally going on the very first night I was here (incidentally also the only night that I assuredly have time to myself)!  But, imagine my dismay when I realized that said rally was going down in Ft. Lauderdale-- 40 minutes and an expensive cab ride away :-( 

It's alright!  I'm able to adapt!  Upon arrival at my hotel I scoped out the Facebook updates for both grilled cheese trucks and concluded that Ms. Cheezious would be parked not TOO too far away, so once I convinced a cab driver to actually drive me to a random intersection I was on my way (seriously, I look like a crazy woman asking a taxi to drive me to a truck: "Are you going to this dry cleaner?" "No, I'm going to that truck parked on the side of the road.")

I had the driver wait in the dry cleaner's parking lot while I went ahead to order.  Ms. Cheezious had 6 signature grilled cheeses on their menu as well as the option to make your own.  I asked what their most popular varieties are and they said that the Grilled Blue and Bacon and the Goat Cheese and Prosciutto are their best sellers.  I wasn't particularly feeling either at that juncture, so I opted for a Grilled Harvest (spiced apples and havarti cheese grilled to perfection on multi-grain bread) and a Crabby Cheese Melt (fresh made crab salad with sharp cheddar cheese on sourdough bread).  I'd say about 5 minutes later my sandwiches were ready and I was headed back to my hotel for immediate taste testing, so let's get down to business.

Crabby Cheese Melt

This one had a perfectly grilled aroma as soon as I unwrapped the foil.  The outside was charred, but just the right amount so as to not be burned.  Pulling the sandwich halves apart I couldn't help but notice that the cheddar is so gooey and smells so good! 

My first bite was mostly cheddar since the cheese was literally oozing out of the sandwich, but this meant that I didn't get a lot of the crab taste initially.  The bites closer to the center of the sandwich had more crab, which is what made me realize that this was pretty similar to the crab-feta melt I made back in May.  The key difference is that with the crab-feta salad, the feta gave the crab a more standout taste so that it could stand up to a sharp cheese melted over it, but here the crab was a very soft flavor.  One good thing about this crab salad is that it isn't heavy on the mayo, which is nice because it keeps the flavor light to offset the ooey-gooey rich cheddar.  I really can't emphasize enough how perfectly grilled the sandwich is-- the outside has that perfect crisp crunch that reminds me of grandma's grilled cheeses (you know, the ones that inspired me to start this blog in the first place).

Grilled Harvest

This one was suuuper stringy and gooey/runny, so I was looking forward to the first bite.  Despite the apples being described as "spiced," I wasn't expecting the sandwich to have a sweet taste-- but the cinnamon on the apples was the very first thing I tasted.   It was almost like eating cinnamon apple sauce along with a grilled cheese.  Since the apples are cooked, they don't give quite as much of a crunch, but they still do add a little something to the otherwise runny filling.  The fact that the apples were cooked also made it so that when I would bite into an apple, the filling of the apple tended to come with me while the peel stayed behind-- not to say this is a good or bad thing, but it makes for a little messier eating. 

The multigrain was good to add some texture since, as I mentioned, the filling is a little softer/gooeyer.  Since the havarti is so mild, it's definitely a secondary flavor to the apples.  This feels like a sweeter, softer play on the apples and cheddar on sourdough that I know and love.  It looks like they use green apples too, which is interesting since I think Granny Smith apples would be too biting for the soft flavors of this sandwich.  Must just be a variety of apple I'm not familiar with (grilled cheeses are my forte, not apples).

All in all, both sandwiches are delicious for different reasons.  Immediately after finishing I would've said that I liked the Crabby Cheese Melt better, but reflecting back on the sandwiches I lean more towards the Grilled Harvest.  Since the Crabby Cheese was so focused on the cheddar, it was a good savory sandwich whereas the Grilled Harvest was lighter and sweet.  They would make a great lunch/dessert pair, which works out well since that's exactly what I had!  This actually ended up being one of two field reports during my time in Miami, so stay tuned for the second!

Crab-Feta Melt

This week my usual sous chef was out of town, so I took the opportunity to make another delicious seafood sandwich!  This time featuring a more common favorite, jumbo lump crab!  Fortunately, I was able to share this concoction with some of my blog's most avid (only?) readers who I knew would appreciate this sandwich's deliciousness: my family.

Ingredients for this sandwich were mostly standard fare-- feta cheese, celery, mayo, corn, etc., but I was thrown for a loop by the cost of jumbo lump crab!  Well, actually, the recipe just called for "crab: preferably fresh or canned, do not use frozen crab," but the only actual crab meat I could find (that was not imitation crab) was fresh jumbo lump crab (yumm) for the low low price of $28/pound (SAY WHAA?!).  Once I actually thought about it I remembered that whenever I go to restaurants that have actual good lump crab cakes they are priced based on the market price and usually average somewhere in the low $20's, so I suppose this was in line, but I still had a bit of sticker shock (luckily including my family in the tasting this week meant they were kind enough to help offset the cost of additional ingredients-- like the crab).

So now I had all my ingredients and was ready to begin.  I had decided to make 1.5x the recipe, so all of my quantities will be adjusted accordingly to make 6 sandwiches instead of 4.  First I went ahead and grated the jack cheese that would create the melt element atop the crab mixture.  The recipe called for 6 ounces to be distributed over 4 sandwiches, but I really like jack cheese so I went ahead and grated about 10.5 ounces to be distributed over 6 sandwiches.  I also chopped up several small celery sticks for inclusion in the crab mixture.  The recipe called for one large celery rib cut into 1/4 inch dice, but I just guesstimated that about 10 smaller sticks would suffice.

Now I was ready to mix up the crab mixture that would go on the sandwiches. 

I measured out 1.5 cups (3/4 pound) of crab and added 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise, 3 ounces of crumbled feta cheese, the chopped celery, 1/2 cup drained canned corn and some sprinkles of black pepper.  The recipe called for about 1 tsp. of curry powder, but after the cumin incident I was a bit leery of Indian food spices, so I opted to leave it out.  It also said to add black pepper to taste, but since I wasn't tasting the mixture just yet I went ahead and added a few sprinkles, but not too much.

Once this was mixed I was pretty much ready to go, so preparation had been a cinch!  An added bonus is that you can make the crab mixture the day before and have it already ready to go when you're ready to make the sandwiches.  Cutting down prep time is always a good thing in my opinion.

To assemble the sandwiches I spread the crab mixture evenly over six slices of sourdough bread that had been buttered on one side (buttered side down).

Next I added the jack cheese in the same way-- distributed evenly over the six pieces of bread.  During this step I was again reminded of how much I like the texture of the jack cheese in that it sticks to itself easily which means it's easy to pile it onto the sandwich. 

I topped the sandwiches off with another slice of sourdough and started grilling.

This was my first time since starting my grilled cheesing that I cooked on an electric stove instead of a gas stove.  I found it much easier to work with this type of stove because the pan didn't get too hot too fast and it actually heated to the heat it advertised (i.e. medium high actually meant medium high).  This meant that the sandwiches grilled quickly and evenly, which was great! 

The stove also had a built in warming zone that was perfect for keeping the already made sandwiches warm. 

At first I had some issues with spilled filling during the flips, but once I started flipping more quickly (and sometimes with two spatulas) all was well.  Before I knew it all the sandwiches were done and we were ready to taste them!

Taste Review:

One of the first things we all noticed was that there wasn't a strong seafood smell to the sandwich (probably because crab seems to be one of the milder and more agreeable shellfish out there).  In the first bite I got a perfect mixture of the soft crab and cheese contrasted with the crunchy sweetness of the corn and celery.  It was nice to have the veggies in there to add some texture.  Usually I don't like celery, but it was a good way to add a little water and freshness without really affecting the taste of the sandwich filling.  The filling was rich, but not so creamy that it was too rich.  It reminded one of the tasters of crab imperial, which apparently is crab with a creamy dressing, but I like to think that this wasn't as rich as that would be.  Basically the filling was mostly crab and jack cheese with just enough filler to enhance but not overpower the flavors.

One element that was a standout in the sandwich was the bread!  The sandwich called for sourdough, so I sprung for some nice fresh baked sourdough from the Wegman's bakery and it was worth it!  The bread itself has a firmer texture than a white bread would, but isn't dense like the rye bread was.  This meant that, when toasted, the bread was crispy but not overcooked.  It also had its own taste that was subtle, but definitely added to the flavor.  Everyone had nothing but positive things to say about the bread, which leaves me happy that I've found such a high quality sourdough this early on (considering it will be making many more appearances in the future).

The most interesting thing to me was that you couldn't really taste the feta cheese at all.  When I first saw the title of this recipe I started preparing myself for a sandwich with a strong bite courtesy of the feta.  In reality, I almost forgot it was in there because I couldn't really taste it.  I'm not sure if it was overtaken by the sweet corn and tasty sourdough, but I didn't get that punch that feta usually packs.  It makes me wonder what this sandwich would taste like without the feta.  I know if it's in there it must be doing something, so would the filling be too bland without it?  Good thing we won't be finding out.  Even with the feta it was a little too bland for some, and one of the tasters pondered what it would be like with added seasoning (like more pepper or a roasted red pepper).  I liked it as is, though :-)

Towards the end we started to get a lot of the jack cheese flavor, which made me wonder if the cheese had melted evenly on the sandwich or not.  In some bites I would get a lot of crab and in others I would get a lot of cheese.  Some of the tasters said it was too cheesy for them, but I thought it was a good amount (maybe because I like jack cheese so much).

FINAL RESULTS:

Sandwich:	Crab-Feta Melt
Gooey-ness:	3
Aroma:	2
Appearance:	Perfectly browned and just the right amount of filling!
Taste:	A-

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!

Overall the sandwich was a hit! This is another one that I think would be a good summertime grilled cheese-- the mild creaminess of the jack combined with fresh crab, corn and celery makes a crisp fresh taste that reminds me of summer.


Next Week: A belated Cinco de Mayo celebration with our first quesadilla!