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[miles]

So it's Wednesday night, and I made a grilled cheese sandwich. It was good, but a bit too buttery/greasy for my taste. Where did I go wrong?

[jay-ell]

Did you butter the bread, or the pan? How much cheese did you use, and what kind? Was the bread fresh or stale?

We need details if we're going to analyze your technique.

[miles]

Buttered the bread. Shredded (pre-) sharp cheddar. I wonder if I used too much? Bread isn't stale, but not really fresh.

[AugustWest]

Buttered the bread. Shredded (pre-) sharp cheddar. I wonder if I used too much? Bread isn't stale, but not really fresh.

Could be that the cheese released a lot of oil/grease.  Whitebread though it may be, American cheese melts more consistently than cheddar.

[wombat]

I use cheddar all the time but shredded cheese sounds like possibly a bad idea. And you mean those packages of cheese shreds? I would not trust those.

[jay-ell]

Yeah, I wouldn't advise using shredded cheese in a grilled cheese sandwich. My spouse does it all the time, but I find it leads to overmelting.

[CortJstr]

Yeah, I wouldn't advise using shredded cheese in a grilled cheese sandwich. My spouse does it all the time, but I find it leads to overmelting.

IIRC Alton uses shredded cheddar in his grilled cheese.

[Choop]

ash, how do you deal with california-sized sticks of butter? i don't know if everybody knows this, but they package the butter different there. they're shorter and thicker and don't fit in regular butter dishes. i bought one of those butter bells once but couldn't get into the swing of it.

one way to avoid a greasy grilled sandwich experience is to use clarified butter, just dip one side of each slice of bread in a plate of it like you're half-making french toast; don't let it soak in too much.

[wombat]

IIRC Alton uses shredded cheddar in his grilled cheese.

Even if he does, let's face it, a lot of the things he cooks nowadays are of the Don't Try This At Home variety.

[jaydub]

SIDE NOTE: Butter is meant to be in a butter dish and sit on a table or counter ready for use unless it is hot as the dickens.

This is one of those battles around the house that I lost long ago.  For whatever reason, my wife refuses to believe that the food preservation technologies we've developed over the past few thousand years (pickling, fermenting, salting, candying, rendering into pure fat, etc) have any validity, so the inside of our fridge is cluttered up with butter, pickle jars, salami, and the like.  So far the vinegar has remained in the pantry though, so its not a total loss.

[jay-ell]

I just like things better cold.

Cool, creamy, sweet-hot mustard on a sizzling, slightly-charred brat fresh from the broiler? Yes please.

I mean, I know you don't *have* to refrigerate snack pack pudding cups, but my kid won't touch them if they're not straight from the fridge, and I can't say I blame him. It makes a difference.

[pmcd9]

I keep my butter in the fridge when it gets to the point (now) that it will straight up melt if left out too long.  I keep pickles in the fridge because I like to eat them cold.  I keep the ketchup in the fridge because I don't use it often and it will go bad eventually if left out.  I put the mustard in the fridge when I am wanting to declutter the kitchen table, but otherwise it stays out.

[Choop]

refrigerating bread is the eight mortal sin

[jay-ell]

Yeah, a bad one.

*thhhppppb*

Pudding and potato salad are best warm and fresh. Chilling either of them is just barbaric, like, at a raised by wolves level of barbarism.

Since when do wolves eat potato salad? Or have refrigerators, for that matter?

[Choop]

since lon chaney first bayed