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How Do You Define a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
Amount of Cheese > Amount of Additional Ingredients = Grilled Cheese
Amount of Cheese
How to Make Cupcake Kebabs
In case anyone was wondering, grilling cupcakes is actually a really good idea.
Put some nice grill lines on the bottom of 'em and you get a hot-warm crispy bottom, and the icing is slightly melty but still intact. It's pretty delicious.
Just sayin'... I don't think these are intended to be, but I would grill these. Toasted marshmallows and cupcakes. Mm.
Cook the Book: 'Modern Spice'
I had a gift certificate for the bookstore that I won at an office party. I was trying pretty hard to find an East African cookbook (ethiopian, somali, etc) and came up virtually blank. There's a lot of North African stuff available (Moroccan being the obvious leader here) but not much for other parts of the continent.
Ever since a local tv show covered ethiopian groceries and shops in the city, and a few trips for ethiopian food, I've been trying to find some reliable, tested instruction on how to cook these foods. Ethiopian!
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Recent Comments | Response to Comments
Should Restaurants Be Allowed To Ban Laptops?
I don't think this is a new problem. It's simply an issue of loitering. It doesn't really matter what you're doing: reading, surfing, filling out tax forms, painting reproductions of baroque masters... if you're doing it in someone's private establishment, you better have paid for something, and you better exit the building once you're finished that something, in a timely manner.
Every place allows for some time for patrons to finish their cup or plate, and sit around for a chat or whatever... but some laptop users seem to think a 2 dollar coffee purchase entitles them to occupy a table for hours. I don't think this is reasonable, especially if the place is busy. It's just common decency - you would be annoyed if your own friends stuck around hours after they were welcome, so why is it ok if you do it at a stranger's place of business?
How Do You Define a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
Amount of Cheese > Amount of Additional Ingredients = Grilled Cheese
Amount of Cheese
How to Make Cupcake Kebabs
In case anyone was wondering, grilling cupcakes is actually a really good idea.
Put some nice grill lines on the bottom of 'em and you get a hot-warm crispy bottom, and the icing is slightly melty but still intact. It's pretty delicious.
Just sayin'... I don't think these are intended to be, but I would grill these. Toasted marshmallows and cupcakes. Mm.
Cook the Book: 'Modern Spice'
I had a gift certificate for the bookstore that I won at an office party. I was trying pretty hard to find an East African cookbook (ethiopian, somali, etc) and came up virtually blank. There's a lot of North African stuff available (Moroccan being the obvious leader here) but not much for other parts of the continent.
Ever since a local tv show covered ethiopian groceries and shops in the city, and a few trips for ethiopian food, I've been trying to find some reliable, tested instruction on how to cook these foods. Ethiopian!
If you had a food cart/truck...
In Toronto, it seems all we have are hot dogs and sausage carts. The first "ethnic" cart just started operating (it was on the news): Ethiopian/Eritrean food... looks like they'll give you a piece of injera wrapped around cooked veggies/curry/etc...
I would like a satay cart. Lamb, beef or chicken. Served with homemade peanut sauce, cucumber pieces and rice cakes. There's nothing quite like walking along the water and smelling the satay vendors' smoke in the wind...
Vegetarian dating a meat lover
Things I've made for veggie girls, vegan friends:
Mushroom cream risotto, pan-fried spinach and mozza patties, veg pizza, baked mac n cheese, bean chili + nachoes, bean and yam burritos, thai green curry with sweet potato + green beans + squash, chana masala, vegetable biryani...
I've always been a meat eater, but I've never said no or thought "where's the meat??" to a simple meal of pasta served with a sauce thick with chunks of roasted tomato and red pepper, with a side of garlic bread and cheese...
Indian Yogurt Sauce?
Raita is available in my grocery's dip section, beside hummus and red pepper spread, etc... but I have made my own as well.
A thick roasted red chili pepper lamb curry... topped with a spoonful of raita - so good! The one I made had chopped fresh cilantro, and toasted whole cumin seeds...
Cook the Book: 'Serious Barbecue' by Adam Perry Lang
My friends experimented one BBQ with grilling cupcakes. Just taking a cupcake and toasting the bottom. It was delicious, so we decided then and there that the next time would be a full-blown dessert BBQ.
Grilled bananas, pineapple, cupcakes, twinkies (seriously, just do it), carmelized mango skewers, among other things. My contribution was the BBQ Dessert Calzone... a sort of flukey one-off stroke of idiot-genius. I combined two dough recipes, one for a grilled pizza crust, and one for a butter cookie (essentially making a stronger, more elastic cookie dough) and custom fillings... simple ones: one had a Mars bar inside and the other was stuffed with peanut butter and dark chocolate chips.
Made into a calzone-pocket about 8 inches long (and left in the fridge for a few hours for the dough to firm up), I grilled them over medium low heat (charcoal embers), and basted them several times each side with melted butter to keep the dough moist. The biggest worry was of course having burnt dough and uncooked inside, but the low heat made sure everything was evenly cooked. The result was a pretty flakey butter-cookie crust with steaming hot melted chocolate, caramel, nuts, and peanut butter oozing out from the middle.
I should've wrote down the exact mixture of that dough, because it turned out moist but firm, and absolutely delicious.
Cook the Book: 'The Asian Grill'
In a Serious Eats-inspired moment, we decided to make Fatty Melts on a charcoal grill. Unfortunately, we were overzealous and ill-prepared; we used too-thick bread, and two extra-thick cheese slices.
Combine that with a grill that was way too hot (grilled cheese doesn't actually mean "grilled", I knew this), and you get scorched bread sandwiches with cool, still-in-solid-state cheese slices inside. (We also tragically lost to the flames several honey-glazed quails that day.) It turns out this is not an ideal companion to homemade burgers that, when cooked, tended more towards spherical than patty-esque in dimensions. What we got was a lot of cool-to-the-touch cheese sandwich mouthfuls and then a very brief burger center.
I finished about half of one. Mostly because I was too full from eating so much blackened bread, but partly because it was actually really disgusting.
Grocery Ninja: Crisp, Golden, Buttery Roti Prata—the Asian Croissant
(it's called "paratha" when transliterated from indian/surrounding regions, but in malay it's spelled and pronounced "prata", and since we're talking SE asia / singapore...)
Sunday Brunch: French Toast and Canadian Bacon Sandwiches
Well, in my local grocery here in Toronto, "Canadian bacon" is back bacon. "Peameal bacon" is also back bacon and both are rolled in peameal.
I'm sure you can get it at a proper meat counter, but I've never seen back bacon sold without the added peameal crust.
Tropicana, Pepsi Overhaul Packaging
Speaking as a designer, I think the Tropicana design is nice. It's simple and easy to execute, not a lot of personality... but it does *work*. Why they'd abandon their brand identifying imagery is a mystery though - maybe it's an internal argument in their head offices.
The Pepsi redesign is just terrible though. I wonder if they're attempting a modern "web" look just to push the difference between their brand and Coca-Cola's to the extreme, as Coke went retro-classic... ie. Coke is traditional, old... Pepsi is progressive, new...
Tofucken, the Vegetarian Turducken, and Other Interesting Meat Marriages
Chicken tenders inside pork tenderloin, inside beef tenderloin.
Butterfly the tenderloins, layer them, and roll them around the chicken tenders. Slice across when done, to reveal the meat spiral.
Call it The Circle Of Life.
goat cheese. stinky or tasty?
It was only a few years ago that I had my first goat cheese experience. Age 28 let's say. Too old to have gone this long without it.
It was a restaurant. Italian, and it was on a cheese platter.
A ball of goat cheese, 3/4 inch in diameter, rolling generously in freshly cracked black pepper. Maybe some other spices, but just pepper I think.
Few things have been in my mouth that have been that densely tasteful.
Should Restaurants Be Allowed To Ban Laptops?
Ooh, this is a hot topic especially in my town of Chapel Hill - a total college town with a lot of professionals as well. There are tons of great little sandwich shops and cafes, some of which get really heavy traffic for breakfast and lunch. They offer free wireless for most of the day, but turn it off during those prime busy hours. I think this is probably the best solution! Those shops are doing great business with their food customers at popular meal times, but also thrive off of students hunkering down and studying for hours at night.
The book vs. laptop argument is getting more hairy, I think, especially with all the wireless reading devices (and I work as a book publicist, so if there's anyone who wants people reading, it's me!). But, what if you're someone (no names...me....) who reads all of their newspaper subscriptions online? How is that much different than bringing a newspaper or a book in to read while you eat? Granted, I don't tote my laptop around in my purse...but if it were small enough and convenient, I probably would. And what about Kindles? IPhones? I guess the real problem is if you stay lingering at the table, obviously, and that could happen with either a book or a laptop, to be fair.
One of the saddest examples I have of this in Chapel Hill - Strong's Coffee. It was this delightful coffee shop that was frequented by students of all kinds. The shop was wonderful, but the problem is that students would set up their study stations at 8:00 am, buy a cup of coffee, get 25-cent refills, and stay there. All. Day. So the store couldn't make enough money to stay open!
All that considered, it should definitely be within the shop owner's rights to determine whatever book/laptop/study policy s/he desires - but it's a fine line between allowing your business to prosper and turning away customers who are turned off by your policies!
cw
www.dumpstersbuffet.com
Should Restaurants Be Allowed To Ban Laptops?
Restaurant owners can do what they want, but I'm not sure it would be wise (or fair) to ban laptop users. If they're worried about people hogging the space, either control Internet access (with temporary codes renewable upon purchase) or impose a time limit for everyone, regardless of what they're doing there.
As for those who are attacking laptop users across the board, please stop generalizing. Not everyone working from a coffee shop wants attention -- some of us have noisy neighbours/roommates, or construction nearby, or just like having human contact like the rest of the working population. So unless we're bothering you directly, you can just suck it.
Should Restaurants Be Allowed To Ban Laptops?
Restaurants should be allowed to ban whatever they wish, just as they're allowed to enforce dress codes.
That said, I wouldn't eat alone at a restaurant that banned books. If I don't have a dining partner, I often feel awkward--even vulnerable--without a paperback to read.
Now that more libraries are providing WiFi and permitting beverages in sealed containers, I'm less grumpy about cafes banning laptops. I understand the argument that people should study or do their work at home, but I have to disagree that this is a solution for everyone. For those of us who are easily distracted, removing ourselves from the distracting environment is a necessary behavioral hack.
Banning laptops shouldn't be necessary. Those of us who work in coffee shops to have a normal level of focus should be considerate of the owners and the other patrons. It's not very polite to spend $1.59 to stake out a table, especially a large one, during busy hours.
In an ideal world, people would move on without being asked. They'd also buy a new drink every hour or so to justify their presence (yes, yes, extra calories--how about that $3 bottled water?). Maybe then, cafe and restaurant owners wouldn't feel the need to ban laptops.
Should Restaurants Be Allowed To Ban Laptops?
I agree with pooch. Between appointments to see clients, I've often parked myself in restaurants in off hours. I've paid for food and beverages, and I also think that I've made the place look busy when they probably wouldn't have more customers there. I'd never consider patronizing a restaurant that wouldn't allow laptop users or readers on the off hours when there are obviously many empty tables.
Should Restaurants Be Allowed To Ban Laptops?
If the waitstaff wants to turn over the table and you are (overly)lingering, they should tell you they need the table. But in a perfect world you should have the common courtesy to realize that you should move along when you're done eating or having a coffee. If you need an "office" outside your home or place of work, there's always the library if the cafe wants you to turn over your table. If there are customer behaviors the establishment would like to curtail, they have a right to post/enforce those rules. I don't have to eat there if I don't like those rules.
Should Restaurants Be Allowed To Ban Laptops?
I generally follow a set of rules when I intend to study at an establishment:
-if it's not indicated and you're not sure, ask if it's ok to study.
-eat there. (meaning, if I have the intention of studying elsewhere, it means that I also have the intention of eating out.)
-don't hog a ton of space unless the cafe isn't busy, or if I'm at a restaurant and the wait staff want to accommodate me with a bigger table.
-if it starts to get busy, make room for other people, or finish up and leave.
I've been in coffeehouses where they have discreet signs saying things like, "These are our peak hours, please use courtesy when using your laptops during these times," or "a minimum charge of $8.00 per hour is required if you intend to study at the cafe". The former works for people who understand that the coffeehouse is there to serve customers, the latter is for those who found too many people abusing the privilege and need to spell out the rules.
If the establishment tells me to put my stuff away, I'll do it without kicking up a fuss. It'll make me think twice about going there next time (at least, for studying, not necessarily the food itself). But I'm not going to feel bad for studying if the establishment is ok about me studying there. I don't think any of us are looking to be attention-whores with our laptops and textbooks!
@cybercita -- I wouldn't argue for banning cell phones outright, but the general population definitely needs to take an etiquette course in cell phone usage. Not everyone in the restaurant wants to hear about how Sally was bulging out of her bikini during that beach party over Spring Break in Miami and liek omg did you think yesterday's episode of the Hills was soooooo tragic?!...
Should Restaurants Be Allowed To Ban Laptops?
When I was a waitress many years ago, our bartender noticed that whenever he turned off the music, after a short period of silence, anyone who'd been lingering would leave! That became our regular way to turn over the tables.
I guess it wouldn't work well nowadays, with people bringing their own entertainment everywhere they go.
I miss the old days!
Should Restaurants Be Allowed To Ban Laptops?
I think it boils down to whether the laptop user is using the cafe as an office/workspace or not.
Surfing the web for 20 minutes while having a cup of coffee is not really different than reading a newspaper while enjoying that coffee.
But when someone sets up shop in a cafe, whether its with a laptop or a pile of textbooks or papers, they better be continually spending money at that establishment.
Should Restaurants Be Allowed To Ban Laptops?
I walked into my neighborhood Starbucks recently and it was packed. Three groups of business types conferring over laptops and blackberries. 4 singles at the little tables by the window doing god knows what on their computers, a huge group of knitters knitting for a cause, and not a single chair for paying patrons. No one I saw had anything left in their single purchase of coffee drink. It's their business, but if it were mine, this would not happen.
Should Restaurants Be Allowed To Ban Laptops?
In the summer I spend time in a rural area in California where I do not have access to the internet. I drive into town (population 247) where there is internet access. At the first establishment, where I ordered a full breakfast, I pulled out the old laptop to check email. I was told "we don't want to be that kind of place". Fine. The next day I drove further to a diner that marketed itself as an internet cafe. And every day of my vacation afterward I went to the place that "was that kind of place". And I don't think I was a D-bag, in fact, I run a scholarship program and was communicating with my students about the upcoming year. Nothing d-baggy about that at all!!!
How Do You Define a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
I think good bread is important - not just white bread OR Wonder Bread (which to me isn't bread but something too soft) - 2 slices of cheese (either american cheese BUT NOT Cheddar - it gets greasy) - American, Monterey Jack, Pepper jack, Muenster, all good. With or without bacon fine with me! Also I've also been known to put pesto sauce and a slice of good heirloom tomato. One important point - all cheeses should be American in some way - made in the U.S.A. - nothing Italian. If you are putting Mozzarella, fontina, provolone or any of them, then it is a panini, not a Grilled Cheese. Even Havarti is good (I know that isn't American - that is my one exception).
It must be made in a cast iron pan with something on top to press it down a bit. I use either my tea kettle OR a heavy pot lid. If made in a panini grill or a George Foreman Grill, it is a panini, not a grilled cheese.
Also no weird combos like Sugar said - cheddar with maple or apple butter or grape jelly. Ick. Nothing sweet. It is a savory sandwich, not a sweet sandwich. If you are putting cheese and sweet together then it is an appetizer bruschetta or something like that. Not Grilled Cheese.
Just my very long 2 cents...
How Do You Define a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
OOOOOH, I love the "Honey Pot" idea! I love anything that combines savoury & sweet. So with that I suggest...
Good bread is important, something like sourdough...
REAL cheese is a must, it makes a world of difference.
Mozzarella with mango chutney
Gouda with marmalade
Cream cheese with cherry jam
Havarti on raisin bread
Goat cheese with red pepper jelly
Old white cheddar with apricot jam
Old cheddar with Granny Smith
Cheddar with grape jelly
Cheddar with apple butter
Cheddar, dipped in maple syrup...
mbhebert SERIOUSLY... Wonder Bread & Velveeta? That' s not lunch, that's revolting.
I also recommend everyone try cooking a grilled cheese Benny & Joon style...
How Do You Define a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
The proper name is a Grilled Cheese Sammich as defined by GCI (Grilled Cheese Invitational). GCI has also defined Grilled Cheese Sammich in three categories, Missionary, Kama Sutra, and Honey Pot.
The Missionary Position: Standard bread, standard cheese (or cheeses), standard butter and NO ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS.
The Kama Sutra: Any kind of bread, any kind of butter, and any kind of cheese PLUS additional ingredients (the interior ingredients must be at least 60% cheese).
The Honey Pot: Any kind of bread, any kind of butter, and any kind of cheese (the interior ingredients of the sammich must be at least 60% cheese), and with an overall flavor that is sweet and would best be served as dessert.
How Do You Define a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
No Wonder Bread or Velveeta for me. A nice rye, extra sharp Canadian cheddar, butter. Toasty on the outside, weeping on the inside. Yum.
I'm a cooking school grad and hubby can't cook a thing. One day, years ago before we married, I was making grilled cheese for lunch and he walked in and said "so that's how you do it!" I've a photo from his mom of him making toast at age 4. Nearly 33 years later he hasn't progressed to a grilled cheese sandwich.
I remember the Campbells Tomato Soup as well, but it would go so much better with a mid-summer pappa al pomodoro.
How Do You Define a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
CHEESE, BREAD, MAYO INSIDE AND BUTTER OUTSIDE TO BROWN THE BREAD !
How Do You Define a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
Growing up in a military household that traveled to a new location every 3-4 years, the best old staple regardless of where we were was grilled cheese sandwiches and Campbells tomato soup. More often than not it was Wonder bread, (builds strong bodies 12 ways), Kraft American (before they were individually wrapped) and Campbells soup made with milk (MMMMM Good). The sandwich was made with butter and squished til toasty in a skillet; cast iron or othewise, which ever one was handiest and a big pot of soup; at least 2-3 cans of it. When we were is Spain we discovered the wonderful spanish cheeses and being daring made sandwiches with them but you know. nothing compares to the good old classic While I may deviate from the comfort path of white bread and american cheese, I do occassionaly grab a loaf of artisian bread, some fontina and gruyere, butter it and toast it all up then sit back and wax poetically in the decadence of it all, smiling the entire time with the memory of it all. (But between you and me, my daughter still prefers white bread and american, you know how kids are.)
How Do You Define a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
In South Africa, where I live, a grilled cheese sandwich contains a minimum of bread, butter and cheese, and is done on a barbecue grid. (Usually onions, tomato and salt and black pepper are added when cooked this way. Whether it still remains a grilled cheese sandwich I'm not sure.) A similar sandwich done under an oven grill would be a toasted cheese, onion and tomato (and whatever else is added) sandwich. Done in a sandwich maker, it becomes a snackwich. The cheese used is usually Cheddar or a similar cheese, NEVER, EVER processed cheese!
How Do You Define a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
I found options #2 and #3 amusing, because after all, cheese IS a protein..........
How Do You Define a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
I happen to like a grilled cheese sandwich with a very good bread from a real bakery and the shredded cheese of your choice. You don't need any butter, etc., if you use a foil-covered, old-style griddle like we used to have from my ex's dad's drugstore lunch counter. It weighed about 50 pounds and was about 12x12 square and the bottom part was about 8" tall. I don't think they make these any more, but it made the BEST flat grilled cheese sandwiches. The hinged top alone must have weighed 8 pounds!
I also love a VARIATION on the grilled cheese, but I call it a "grilled cheese with bacon and tomato sandwich," not a "grilled cheese sandwich" so that people know that it is different. I also use butter on all versions today as, alas, the ex made off with the griddle! Oh, well, as the song says, "...some fine things have been laid upon your table..." and I guess I wasn't very smart back then!
How Do You Define a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
Just to echo: the focus of the sandwich should be the melty cheese goodness. Other ingredients are totally acceptable, as long as the enhance the main.
How Do You Define a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
I may be alone here... but grilled cheese sandwich is in the method for me. You can put whatever you want as long as it's got bread & cheese... but it has to be made in a pan. Panini press? Then it's a panini, that's a pretty simple conclusion. One of those strange (to me) contraptions that also slices the bread diagonally and seals it? Pressed sandwich or um, what do you call it... I don't know.
I realize my grilled cheese isn't made on a grill, but that's how I grew up making it - in a pan, super toasty delicious awesome - and that's how I see it. You can put tomatoes, ham, bacon, prosciutto... whatever you want in it! Just make it in the pan. :)
How Do You Define a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
White bread,butter,cheddar cheese and a smear of red pepper jelly or a few drops of worcestershire sauce..the only way to go...
How Do You Define a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
I say it all depends on the ratio of cheese and other fillings. To be a grilled cheese there has to be more cheese than any other filling
How Do You Define a Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
just to be a pain I made grilled cheese last night on homemade tortillas with oxaca and manchago cheese with a little bacon and thin sliced tomato. they wernt quesadillas they were grilled cheese! the cheese was the star of the show, everything else is just a "flavor enhancer" dont like it? IMHO there is no right way or wrong way, just the way you like it. as for me I like both kind of grilled cheese the same way, as long as no one gets hurt, anything goes ;-)
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About bearsarefree
Location: Toronto
About: Toronto-based graphic designer / amateur rapper / food-nerd.
Favorite foods: Satay, grilled shrimp, panang curry, crepes, chili crabs, BLTs, banana prata, croissants, hamburgers, caesar salad, cheesecake, curry puffs, cucur + chili sauce, fried chicken, smoked gouda, baguettes, crispy coconut buns, sambal stingray, apple pie
Last bite on earth: kheema mattar served with bhatoora and teh tarik - I had this combination in a 2nd story restaurant in little india, singapore and it has been unmatched since
I don't think this is a new problem. It's simply an issue of loitering. It doesn't really matter what you're doing: reading, surfing, filling out tax forms, painting reproductions of baroque masters... if you're doing it in someone's private establishment, you better have paid for something, and you better exit the building once you're finished that something, in a timely manner.
Every place allows for some time for patrons to finish their cup or plate, and sit around for a chat or whatever... but some laptop users seem to think a 2 dollar coffee purchase entitles them to occupy a table for hours. I don't think this is reasonable, especially if the place is busy. It's just common decency - you would be annoyed if your own friends stuck around hours after they were welcome, so why is it ok if you do it at a stranger's place of business?