Mac and Cheese Grilled Cheese

It's finally time.  After two wildly successful samplings of a mac and cheese grilled cheese here and here, I decided I needed to have a go at making one myself.  I know it may seem excessive to try what is essentially the same sandwich three times, but let's get serious-- this is a grilled cheese with mac and cheese in it!  This will never get old! 

But where to begin?  Obviously a killer mac and cheese recipe is the key to success for this sandwich.  A brief online search yielded me the modestly titled "World's Best Mac and Cheese."  This recipe had two things working in its favor: 1) It was from Martha Stewart's website (to quote my friend Caroline, "Martha hasn't let me down yet!") and 2) It's culled from Kurt Beecher Dammeier's cook book (of Beecher's handmade cheese fame, see here and here).  These positives were enough to sell me on using this recipe for my sandwich.  So let's get down to business:

The first thing you may notice about this picture is that there are FOUR different packages of cheese.  Looks like I definitely found my killer mac and cheese (literally, my arteries were already scared). 

Step one was making the cheese sauce, which would serve as the key ingredient in the mac and cheese equation.  You can follow the recipe here, but I'll talk you through it as per usual.

Starting ingredients:
* Milk (3 cups)
* Cheddar (16 ounces)
* 1/2 stick butter
* Flour (1/3 cup)
* Jack (1/2 cup)
* Salt, chili powder and garlic powder as needed

I started out by making a roux with the flour and butter. 

Once that was sufficiently blended I started adding the milk gradually. 

The recipe's directions seem to indicate that you can pour all of the milk in at once, but I opted for a more gradual process so I could make sure that the milk was fully blended with the roux before adding more milk.  I wanted to make sure it mixed together evenly.  Once everything was combined in the pot I let it cook for 10 more minutes, all the while stirring regularly.

While I was doing this, sous chef was working on grating the cheeses.  We had two 8 ounce bricks of cheddar.  One was Cabot Seriously Sharp and the other was Lucerne Sharp.  I love Cabot cheese, but Lucerne was on sale, so I figured a blend of the two would provide a little extra dimension to the cheese sauce.

Once the cheese was all grated and the milk mixture was thickened a bit, I removed the milk from the heat and added in 15 ounces of cheddar cheese (saving 1 ounce for later), 1/2 cup jack cheese, and dashes of chili and garlic powder (just eyeballed this).

Even though the burner wasn't on anymore, the milk was still warm enough to melt the cheese as I stirred the two together.

This photo actually makes it look like I was stirring much faster than I actually did, so just picture a nice slowish/even stir.  Anywho, once that was mixed together I couldn't resist trying a bite.  And once I had one bite I had a hard time resisting the urge to dunk my head in the pot and slurp up all the sauce.  I was instantly sold on this recipe regardless of how the macaroni and sandwich portions turned out (sacrilege, I know)!

Once Colin pried the tasting spoon out of my hand I was able to continue.  The official mac and cheese recipe calls for penne pasta, but that's penne and cheese, not mac and cheese, so I decided to use good old elbow macaroni.  However, since it's so much smaller (AND WE HAD SO MUCH CHEESE SAUCE) we doubled the quantity we prepared-- probably closer to 12 ounces than the 6 that were called for by the recipe.  Per instruction, we cooked the pasta for 2 minutes less than the suggested cooking time on the package.

Once this was cooked, strained and ready to roll it was time for the macaroni to take a bath in the cheese sauce.

Oh macaroni, how I envy you... wait, that sounds really creepy.  Revision: MAC AND CHEESE, GET IN MY BELLY!  But sadly it still wasn't quite time to chow down.  We still had to bake it.  Not gonna lie, there was still a very high cheese sauce to macaroni ratio, so you probably could do with making more pasta, but when has too much cheese ever really been cause for concern?  Answer: Never. 

Correction, maybe there is one exception:

But I digress.  After greasing my standard 13"x9" baking dish I poured in all of the macaroni and cheese.

Add to that a topping consisting of the remaining ounce of cheddar, an ounce of Gruyere and another dash or two of chili pepper and it's ready for the oven.

20 torturous minutes later it was all done!

Correction, the mac and cheese was done-- the sandwich was just beginning.  When I have a filling as decadent as mac and cheese I find it best to keep the rest of the sandwich pretty simple, so I opted to go with our tried and true friend: Pepperidge Farm Sourdough.  I buttered one side of one slice of bread and PILED on the mac and cheese.

I topped that off with another slice of bread and was ready to grill.  A few short minutes later I had a delectable treat just begging me to scarf it down.

Taste Review:

Well, I didn't have to wait for the actual sandwich to be ready to assert that the mac and cheese itself is AMAZING.  I fully endorse the "World's Best Mac and Cheese" moniker.  The sandwich had a strong aroma thanks to the fact that the filling had cooked for 20 minutes before we ate it, so that was appreciated.  One of the positives of cooking the filling independently of the sandwich is that you don't have to grill the sandwich for that long.  Since the filling is already gooey, once the bread is toasted then you're ready to go.  On the flip side, this could be a negative in the eyes of some.  The filling is so gooey that I kind of wanted something to stand up to it (like how you sometimes have bread crumbs on mac and cheese).  Colin said he thought the bread was fine though, so this is all a matter of personal preference. 

Creamy, rich and ooey gooey are the words that repeatedly came to my mind as I ate.  It was so rich I could've maybe used a slight counter-- maybe garlic bread?  Colin had (surprise, surprise) added hot sauce to his, so it hit just the right note for him.  But in general it was a delight all around.

FINAL RESULTS:

Sandwich:	Mac and Cheese Grilled Cheese
Gooey-ness:	5
Aroma:	4
Appearance:	SUPER CHEESY!
Taste:	A

Yum yum-- I've yet to go wrong with a mac and cheese grilled cheese, and now I know that I can whip up a professional grade version in my very own home!

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!

Field Report: Cheesie's Pub & Grub

This past week I was in Chicago for work, but made sure to take advantage of the opportunity to do a field report!  My dad had suggested a restaurant he found online: Cheesie's Pub & Grub.  They advertise themselves as Chicago's first ever grilled cheese restaurant, so of course it was the perfect choice for my outing :-)  Since I was in Chicago, I was lucky enough to be able to include two new guest tasters: Caroline and Coury!

We decided to get three different sandwiches to share so as to maximize our tasting possibilities.  There were seven sandwiches on the menu and one additional "Sandwich of the Month."  I was excited to see that the sandwich of the month was a "Chicago Style Hot Dog Grilled Cheese."  Back when I was first thinking about some of the grilled cheese recipes I could make I got to thinking about cities I had been to and their signature foods; and a Chicago style hot dog was one of the culinary trademarks that came to mind.  Of course, I could never re-create it as accurately and deliciously as a true Chicagoan, so lucky for me here was my chance to try one!  We asked the cashier which her favorite was and she said it was The Mac-- a sandwich featuring mac and cheese filling, so we got one of those as well.  To round out our trio we ordered The Frenchie, which I was drawn to because it had french fries on the sandwich (another option I plan to explore later, but more in the Pittsburgh style).

Alright, so the first sandwich on the hit parade was the Chicago style hot dog.  To familiarize everyone with what a traditional Chicago style hot dog entails, it's a beef hot dog with yellow mustard, chopped white onions, sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices or wedges, sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt.  The grilled cheese included several key elements from the traditional hot dog: the beef hot dog, relish, peppers and mustard; but also included American and cheddar cheese and was served on Texas toast instead of a hot dog bun. 

The first thing I noticed was the strong taste of mustard and relish (which makes sense since those were the key elements from the original Chicago style dog that were included on the sandwich).  Although there's no ketchup on a real Chicago style dog, we all felt like the sandwich could've benefited from a little something to counter the strong mustard taste.  Maybe if the tomato slices and onions had been included they would've helped to balance it out a bit?  Hard to say for sure.  One thing we definitely liked was the bisecting and flattening of the hot dog-- it made the sandwich very manageable and easy to eat neatly, but Caroline and Coury both would've liked some more hot dog since the condiments were pretty strong (as I'm not a beef eater I had no real opinion there).  Speaking of potential additions-- we thought it could've handled a stronger cheese to compliment the strong mustard flavor.  My first thought is jack cheese instead of the American (while keeping the cheddar), but I'm sure any number of combos would be tasty.  My only other note was that I got all the pepper in one bite towards the end, so I think making sure it's spread out more evenly would be good.  Even though there's a good amount of commentary here, I was still pleased with the sandwich.  It definitely encapsulated much of what I expected and hoped for in a Chicago style hot dog sandwich, but I just needed a little something to cut the mustard (*ba dum ching!* seriously though, no pun intended, less mustard taste would've been fine by me).

Next up was the sandwich that elicited three "WOW!"'s upon first taste.  Coury further elaborated with a "This should be illegal."  The delicious concoction to which she was referring is: The Mac.  More specifically, American cheese, Merkt's cheese and homemade macaroni and cheese on Texas toast with a tomato soup dip.  I wasn't familiar with Merkt's cheese, but an internet search informs me that it's a type of spreadable cheese based out of Wisconsin.  Whatever it is, it's good!  My first bite was dipped in the tomato soup and it was a nice pairing, but the sandwich was so delicious it also stood firmly on its own. 

The macaroni helps to keep the interior of the sandwich fluffy and light even though it is smothered with cheese, so you don't feel weighted down by eating such a rich combination.  It was neat that they could find a way to keep an overall light feeling while still sticking with a basic starch/cheese combination.  Even eating just the mac and cheese would've left me satisfied, so the fact that it was on the sandwich just made it that much better!  The cheeses combined to be very creamy (almost like Velveeta), but didn't taste cheap at all like some mac and cheeses can tend to taste.  The crispiness of the Texas toast added some crunch that reminds me of homemade mac and cheese when it's covered with real bread crumbs.  This was an AWESOME combo and one that I would definitely make a trip back for the next time I find myself in Chicago.

Last, but not least, came the Frenchie.  This sandwich consisted of American cheese, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese sauce, thick cut french fries, bacon and chives on sourdough with a side of sour cream.  In short, it was a loaded baked potato in sandwich form.  The sandwich was very rich between the cheeses, potato, bread and bacon, so the sour cream was a good accompaniment since it gave a little tang to contrast the richness.  The chives also helped to add a little kick and further cut the fattiness-- I mean, chives are a vegetable, right? ;-)  Even though there were three different types of cheese they blended together well without making it too cheesy.  I could actually taste the french fries more than the bread, so it was almost like the bread was just there to hold the sandwich together, but that was fine by me since the filling was so tasty!  A baked potato is great and a baked potato in sandwich form is even better :-)

Final Rankings (in order of preference):
1) The Mac
2) The Frenchie
3) Chicago Style Hot Dog Grilled Cheese

So while the restaurant is new (only about a month old), it's well on its way to being a major success.  In addition to enjoying the delicious sandwiches, we all split an order of sweet potato fries (which were yummy) and while we didn't have a drink there, there's a nice little bar in the back that serves a solid collection of (mostly local) microbrews.  Grilled cheese and beer is certainly a recipe for happy customers!  The staff was also super friendly (shout out!) and we briefly chatted about some fun ideas for grilled cheeses.  I will definitely make a trip back when I find myself in Chicago again.

Next Week: Time for some fresh summer flavor courtesy of fruit!  Introducing: Apple, Ham and Cheddar on Sourdough.  Until then...

Back of the official Cheesie's shirt that I bought.