Tips for Choosing the Best Cheese for Grilled Cheese
As with the tasty steakburgers and frozen custard treats at your local Freddy's, happiness in the form of a grilled cheese sandwich can be achieved through a classic preparation using familiar ingredients or a more creative approach, resulting in different types of grilled cheese sandwiches. In opting for culinary exploration with your grilled cheese, one pathway for flavor discovery is in the cheese selection itself. If you are a fan of grilled cheese sandwiches and experimenting in the kitchen, keep reading for some tips to help you choose the best cheese for your grilled cheese sandwich preparations.
Choosing the Best Cheese for Grilled Cheese
At Freddy’s, a lot of thought and care goes into both our standing menu selections and our limited-time offers, such as the BBQ Brisket Steakburger. We also understand that on any given day or for any new guest or regular, the opportunity to customize components of our savory and sweet selections further enhances our diners’ experiences. The best cheese for grilled cheese may vary in a similar fashion – a classic like American cheese may be essential on one day, while a mixture of fontina and gouda cheeses may suit another. In deciding the best cheese for a grilled cheese, here are some points to consider!
1. Choose a younger cheese that has a greater amount of moisture for a wow-worthy cheese pull.
In the guide to the “pulliest” cheese options from Wisconsin Cheese, mozzarella is highlighted as the top choice as a cheese with significant stretch, which is why it is a standard on pizza and often used in grilled cheese sandwiches. However, it’s not the only choice that results in some sort of stretchy spectacle. When a little more oomph in the flavor department is desired as well as pulling appeal, other best cheeses on this list include provolone, cheddar, Monterey Jack, and fontina.
2. Use multiple cheeses to create layers of flavor and texture.
One of the qualities that makes our Grilled Cheese Steakburger so delicious is our inclusion of two different types of cheese – American and Swiss! For grilled cheese sandwiches in general, using more than one type of cheese helps increase the depth of flavor and, sometimes, results in a more preferable mouthfeel. To learn more about different types of cheeses, The Pioneer Woman offers a guide to many different varieties. To find the best cheeses for your grilled cheese, you might simply start experimenting with combinations of your favorite cheeses or utilize the odds and ends hanging out in your cheese drawer. For a little bit more guidance in cheeses to try, this list provided by Mashed includes a range of pairs and trios recommended by chefs and others in the food industry.
3. Think about the cheese preparation.
If you’ve been perusing recipes for grilled cheese sandwiches, you may notice that some of them call for sliced cheese, while others list shredded cheese like this one at Delish or even pre-shredded cheese. Even prepared cheese spreads or homemade versions like pimento cheese may appear. Your choice of cheese preparation may impact the melt or other textural considerations, the overall time to make the dish, the flavor and more. For example, pre-shredded cheese is a convenient time-saver, especially when you are looking for a quick meal. However, it sometimes has other ingredients added to it to keep the shreds from sticking together, so it may not taste or melt exactly the same as its freshly shredded counterpart.
4. Account for any other ingredients being included in the grilled cheese.
The other ingredients that you plan to use in making your grilled cheese or that are provided in a chosen recipe often influence the best cheese for that grilled cheese. From gochujang and kimchi to corn and blackberries, as included in the list of more than 30 different grilled cheese sandwiches from the Food Network, a diverse array of ingredients may be part of a grilled cheese sandwich. The best cheese for that particular grilled cheese sandwich varies accordingly. For example, the rich and earthy creaminess of brie is a delicious savory contrast to sweet fruit like blackberries.
One way to find the best cheeses for a grilled cheese sandwich while bringing some variety to a frequent weekly menu item is by trying different recipes or otherwise experimenting with different cheese combinations and ingredient pairings. If you are looking for a creative dish that combines your love of grilled cheese and steakburgers, then you might want to try the Grilled Cheese Steakburger that currently appears on the menu at Freddy’s. Whether you are looking for a variation on grilled cheese, other savory dishes or frozen custard treats, stop by a Freddy’s near you today!