Better Home Cooking Basics: #56 Butter Bread with Mayo for the Best Ever Grilled Cheese.

I love a good grilled cheese. The bread is buttery & crispy & the cheese is melty & gooey. When you get a good one you know it & there is nothing better. I’ve tried endlessly to make the perfect grilled cheese at home but it wasn’t until recently that I found this life (or grilled cheese) changing tip in Bon Appetit that I was able to perfect my grilled cheese sandwich. The key - the secret to the best grilled cheese is MAYO!! Who knew? I’m personally not a mayo fan but you don’t taste the mayo with this method, you just taste nutty, brown, crispy, toasted bread. What’s even better is your cheese gets all melty & gooey just like you’ve always dreamed!

So without further adieu, this is what you do:

1. Place 2 slices of your favorite bread on a cutting board.
2. Butter the top side of each slice with mayo. Make sure they mayo is applied thinly but completely.
3. Next, heat a small non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add a pat of butter, let it slide around & melt completely.
4. Then take 1 slice of the bread & place it mayo side down in the skillet. Err on the side of low-medium heat to make your grilled cheese. Slow & steady wins the grilled cheese race, hot & fast burns it.
5. Top the bread with 3 slices of sliced cheese. (Make sure the cheese is of equal thinness so that it has the best melting potential & there are no un-melted chunks when you’re done.) I like to break & fold the slices of cheese so they cover the whole surface of the bread.
6. Top the cheese with the second slice of bread, mayo side up.
7. Keep browning the underside of the bread. I like to slide mine around a bit since my oven is a little unbalanced & the heat hits the bread evenly. This takes me about 3-5 minutes
8. Take a peak under the sandwich - if it’s golden brown it’s time to flip.
9. Using a spatula carefully flip the sandwich over & brown the other side.
10. Press down on the sandwich to encourage even browning.
11. When the bread is brown & the cheese is melted, remove from the skillet, cut in half & eat immediately.

Get more of my better home cooking basics here.