The perfect grilled cheese does exist

Pair this gooey sandwich with Tomato Basil Soup for the perfect meal

A grilled cheese is just a grilled cheese, right? Wrong!
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I have always taken my grilled cheese making very seriously since it was the very first thing I ever cooked as a kid.  My Aunt Jo Anne taught me years ago to melt the butter in the pan first and then sort of swipe the bread around the pan to get the butter on the bread.  I personally prefer using softened (salted) butter to smear on the bread but there really is no wrong way to begin making a grilled cheese.  However, just in the past year I think I have truly perfected my grilled cheese! 

Here are a few tips to get the grilled cheese of your dreams:

1. Use brioche bread.  This soft, sweet, thick sliced bread is what grilled cheese dreams are made of.  It's very indulgent and costs more than regular sliced bread but is such a treat!
2. Use shredded cheese!  This goes against every grilled cheese I ever made up until about a year ago.  I have always been a Kraft sliced cheese gal (always two slices, never one!).  Sometime back I wanted a grilled cheese and didn't have any sliced so I went for it and used some shredded cheddar we had.  We've become shredded cheese snobs of late so the kind I had on hand was tillamook cheese cheddar blend.  Once I made this grilled cheese I knew it would be hard to ever go back.
3. Make a mess - on purpose.  After buttering your slices of bread and lying in the pan be sure and make a tad bit of a mess when sprinkling the shredded cheese onto the bread.  Why you ask?  When the cheese begins to melt along the outer edges of the bread and then gets all crispy and nice you will see why! I've even gone so far as to sprinkle a slight bit of cheese in the pan before adding the buttered bread right on top.  YUM.

PS: If serving with my tomato basil soup, cut the grilled cheese into slices or squares for dipping!
Love,