[skillet sizzling]
[sandwich crunching]
[drums beating]
- Hi, I'm Bianca, and
I'm a level one chef.
- I'm Daniel, and I'm a level two chef.
- Hi, I'm Remy, and I've been
a chef for more than 59 years.
[drums beating]
- My favorite thing about
this recipe are the onions.
It gives it flavor and also,
a little bit of a crunch.
- Maybe it's just me, but I like to add
a little bit of fruit
to my grilled cheese.
Kind of cuts off the savory,
adds a little sweetness,
and I have a sweet tooth
like nobody's business.
So this works for me.
- I'm going to be making
a grilled cheese sandwich
that you find in may cafes in Paris.
This is perfect mix between
crispy bread and melting cheese.
[jarring music]
[pointer clacking]
[drums beating]
- First up, the bread.
I like to start with a nice country loaf.
It is hearty and it really
adds some nice texture.
It makes it more of a full sandwich.
- So, I like the wheat
bread over white bread
beause I'm trying to be health-conscious.
- The bread I'll be using is
this beautiful Roman sourdough.
The sourness of the
dough will work very well
with the richness of the cheese.
- For cheese, I like to
use American and cheddar.
Cheddar gives it a bit of a
more cheesy stretch to it,
and you know, you can't
really go wrong with American.
That's the way to go.
- I have three different cheeses.
Got a white cheddar, a gruyere,
and a yellow sharp cheddar.
The gruyere is like a Swiss
but it's a little bit on the sweet side.
And the sharp cheddar adds
a nice little bit of punch.
- We'll use two cheeses for this recipe.
We'll be using Emmental
and some parmesan cheese.
Emmental will be the bulk of the sandwich.
We will slice it, it
will melt with the heat,
and the parmesan cheese will just bring
a little bit of saltiness.
- I don't like the packaged slices.
Doesn't look good, doesn't taste good.
Feels artificial and fake.
- I don't mind using the American
singles because it's easy.
- I'm going to be putting
some prosciutto cotto
into my sandwich.
I'll also be making a bechamel sauce.
It's a traditional French
milk and cheese sauce.
I'll be making mine a little thick today.
So first, I'm gonna melt
some butter in my dutch oven.
I'm putting my burner on medium heat.
I don't wanna burn the burner.
- My mom would put onion in everything,
so she said, "Hey, why not put
it in a grilled cheese too?"
- I like to add a little
fruit to my sandwiches
to add some sweetness,
and today, I'm using blackberries.
I cut them in half just to
increase the surface area.
I think the more sugar
and coating and juice
that gets into everything,
ultimately enhances the
flavor of the entire dish.
- I'm whisking some all-purpose flour.
The flour is going to thicken the sauce.
Put a pinch of salt.
I gently put some warm milk,
a little bit at a time,
until all the milk is incorporated.
Okay, so, it's on medium.
Add in some olive oil, and I like to do,
I usually like to put
the pan up to the oil,
I can get it around the pan.
So my onions are chopped.
Time to fry them up.
So, maybe, we cook them for
about, maybe, two minutes or so.
You don't wanna overcook them.
You still want a bit of a crunch.
- So, you when I reach
the consistency I want,
I bring the whole thing to a boil,
making sure it doesn't scorch.
The whole thing has come to a boil.
I can turn it off.
And now, we put in my
freshly ground peppercorn,
some fresh nutmeg, my parmesan
cheese, and my Emmental.
I can whisk the whole thing
so the cheese can melt.
Now, my bechamel sauce is done.
- I'm gonna macerate the blackberries.
I'm gonna take some sugar,
and sort of generously coat the berries,
toss them a little bit.
So, when you're done, you kind of have
this little coating over all the berries,
they look a little wet.
And you can set these aside,
for about 15 to 30 minutes,
and they'll be good to go.
- So, these look about ready.
So, I'm gonna turn this off.
They're nice and brown.
Can't wait to eat them.
- All right, I'm ready
to build this sandwich.
First, the bread.
- I'm going in the widest path of the loaf
so I can have a big sandwich.
- I like to choose from the
middle because you know,
we wanna stay as far from,
what is this part of the bread called?
- The butt end, which is very tiny.
And I wanna eat a good, nice size sandwich
that only the middle
slices can provide me.
- The middle is where it's at.
- I like to keep about a half-inch thick,
something like this.
- On my top layer, I'm
going to poke a little hole.
In that hole, I will put
an egg yolk later on.
- Now, on to the cheese.
I like to cut the cheese thin
just because if you
had too thick of a cut,
it's not gonna melt all the way through,
and we have three
different kinds of cheeses,
so I wanna make sure that
they're all melting properly.
- So, I like to start off
with American sliced cheese.
- So, I have my cheese, I have my bread.
Now, for the secret ingredient
to nice, golden bread
is mayonnaise.
It spreads a lot easier than butter,
and it actually has a
higher smoking point,
so you get a nice, crispy brown bread
as opposed to a burnt toast.
Okay, so mayonnaise might
sound a little weird
to some people because it's mayonnaise,
but if you give it a try,
trust me, it'll taste phenomenal.
- Okay, to assemble the sandwich,
I'm going to start with a slice of cheese
and a slice of ham.
I wanna put the cheese
closer to the outside layer
so it gets closer to the
heat and melts quicker.
- So, one piece of bread.
The mayo side is gonna be face down.
That's what's gonna cook
and brown the bread.
- So, I like to put layers of cheese,
layers and layers of cheese.
So, this is the first layer.
Now, we're gonna add
the cheddar.
- Yellow cheddar.
Followed by the gruyere.
We'll finish with the sharp cheddar.
- So, I start by putting my sliced cheese.
I don't want anything over the edges.
It would burn later on.
- I don't really mind if the
cheddar spills out on the sides
because it's really about
the center that counts.
I got all my cheese down.
Time to add the onions.
Yeah, I'll just scrape them on.
- I'm gonna be putting
some prosciutto cotto
into my sandwich.
The prosciutto should
be cut very, very thin.
It brings out more flavor.
- Now, I'm gonna take the
macerated blackberries,
and that is going to go on top.
- So let's put the final piece of bread.
Yes, that's a squish.
- And now, I take my
room temperature butter,
and I spread it.
I like butter, it brings a ton of flavors.
It doesn't fight with the
other flavors of the sandwich.
And since I'm going to sear
the sandwich on both sides,
I also spread butter on the other side.
Now, it's time for this
grilled cheese to get grilled.
I am going to heat up
a cast iron skillet.
- A cast iron.
- I like to use cast iron
just 'cause it looks nice.
- I like using a non-stick pan.
I don't really know
if the flavor is any different
with the non-stick pan,
but I know that the
clean-up is much easier.
We're gonna add.
- [Unison] Some butter.
- And we're gonna move the butter around
because it looks good.
- So, I am looking for
the butter to bubble
but not turn brown.
If it turns brown, then
your pan is too hot.
- You don't wanna go too low.
The center will become soggy.
- So first, you take your loaded end.
You put that mayo side down.
- [Remy] I start searing my
sandwich, hole side down.
- And the top slice, also mayo
side down on the other side.
- And just now, we'll just wait
until it starts sizzling. [chuckles]
- I hear that little searing
noise, which is good stuff.
The sandwich is ready
when it's nice and golden
brown on all sides.
- This side is starting
to brown a little bit,
so I'm gonna take the side
that has no toppings on it.
I'm gonna flip it over the top here.
- So it's brown now, we can flip it.
Oh!
- You wanna cook like,
I'll say four to five minutes per side.
So, I usually like to cook one side
for about one to two minutes.
Cheese is not really melting, man.
- The hole is looking good,
I can see that my cheese is melting.
The whole thing is getting
warm on the inside.
The bread is crispy.
I can show you the other side.
- Waiting for the sandwich to be done
is always the hardest part.
Salivating. [pants]
Smells so good. [chuckles]
- Both sides are done.
I will be spreading my bechamel,
making sure I don't put
anything on top of the hole.
And I'm gonna put this whole
thing under the broiler.
- The cheese is draping
over the sides here.
- Now, hopefully the cheese melts.
That's also the hard part.
- My sandwich has just
come out of the broiler.
The cheese is perfect, it's melted,
and now, the final touch.
I will put my yolk on top,
and go in the broiler just to warm it up.
- That, my friends, is quite done.
[skillet sizzling]
[upbeat music]
- I'm gonna turn off the burner now
and take the sandwich from the pan.
- We're back from the broiler.
The egg yolk is warm but still runny.
We are ready to slice it.
[upbeat music]
- Let's see if it melted.
[upbeat music]
Dag, it wasn't melted.
- I like to cut it diagonally,
and it looks better on the plate.
And you can shove the corners
in your mouth like an animal.
- And this is my grilled cheese sandwich.
[drums echoing]
- And this is my grilled cheese sandwich.
[drums echoing]
- This is my grilled cheese sandwich.
[drums echoing]
[quirky music]
- Let's go.
[bread crunching]
Mmm.
- This is so good.
- Yum.
- It's a good sandwich.
[quirky music]
- Mmm.
I'll give it a five out of 10.
The cheese, you know, you
win some, you lose some.
- The bread, the cheese,
the eggs, perfect.
- It's just mind-blowing.
[chuckles] This is a really
good grilled cheese sandwich.
[pointer tapping]
- When making grilled cheese,
there's a wide array of breads, cheeses,
and extras you can use.
Let's talk about the bread.
[drums beating]
[pointer clacking]
Bianca used a store-bought
whole wheat bread.
- You know, trying to be fake healthy.
- [Food Scientist] Daniel
used a rustic peasant loaf,
and Remy used a sourdough bread.
- The sourness of the
dough will work very well
with the richness of the cheese.
- Bianca's store-bought whole wheat bread
is made of commercial
yeast and other additives
like molasses or honey, ascorbic acid,
amylase, protease, and mono/diglycerides.
- And that's what's important.
- These additives have
anti-staling properties
and contribute to the
volume and slice-ability
of the finished bread.
[quirky music]
So, Daniel chose a rustic peasant loaf,
which is considered artisan bread.
- This looks great and
it tastes even better.
- Artisan breads have
four basic ingredients.
That's the flour, water, salt, and yeast.
Remy's sourdough is made of a
levain, pre-fermented flour,
and water and a pinch of yeast.
The yeast produces carbon dioxide,
which through fermentation
leavens the dough,
while bacteria produces lactic acid
that contributes to its
signature tangy sour flavor.
- The sourness of the
dough will work very well
with the richness of the cheese.
[drums beating]
[pointer clacking]
- Bianca used a combination of
American and cheddar cheese.
Cheddar cheese is relatively hard
and has more flavor than American,
depending on the aging process.
- I love cheddar cheese.
[deeply inhales] It smells so good.
- American is a smooth and
creamy processed cheese.
Mild and salty in flavor with
a medium firm consistency.
- And you know, you can't
really go wrong with American.
- [Food Scientist] Daniel
used gruyere cheese,
and white and yellow cheddar cheeses.
- Variety's the spice of life.
- Gruyere is a hard yellow
cheese that is earthy,
creamy and nutty, becoming
more assertive in flavor
as it ages.
These cheeses combined present
a rich, creamy, buttery flavor profile.
- Helps with the blackberries.
- Remy used Emmental and
parmesan cheeses in his sandwich.
Emmental is one of the
best melting cheeses.
Parmesan is made from
unpasteurized cow's milk,
and has a gritty texture that
is fruity and nutty in taste.
- And the parmesan cheese will just bring
a little bit of saltiness.
[drums beating]
[pointer clacking]
- Bianca sauteed onions
to add to her sandwich.
- I love, love onions.
- During sauteing, the
reaction and breakdown
of sugar molecules in the
onions cause them to caramelize,
developing a sweet flavor
that complemented the cheeses.
Daniel chose to include
macerated blackberries.
- I know some people do
apples or pear slices.
- The sugar extracted water
from the blackberries,
softening their fibers and
bringing out the sweetness.
Remy added prosciutto, bechamel sauce,
and an egg yolk to his dish.
Bechamel sauce is a
combination of equal parts
of fat and flour, blended
together to form a roux.
- A lot of times, it's
used in pasta dishes.
- The addition of an egg
yolk in Remy's sandwich
gave it a rich flavor and
a layer of velvety texture.
[drums beating]
[pointer clacking]
Bianca used a non-stick frying pan.
Daniel and Remy used a cast iron skillet.
- I like using cast iron.
It's convenient, it's pretty,
has a very good heat retention.
- And Remy finished off his
sandwich under a broiler.
Frying pans can heat up extremely fast
due to a reduced thickness
and shallow design.
Since Bianca cooked her
sandwich on high heat,
her bread became fully toasted
before the heat was able to
completely melt the cheese.
- Maybe next time!
- Cast iron skillets have a
high volumetric heat capacity,
meaning once heated, they stay hot.
They also expel a lot of heat
energy from their surface.
Therefore, foods cook evenly
and can create a good, all-around sear.
Bianca added butter to her
pan, creating a surface area
of creamy, brown, buttery notes.
[Bianca grunts]
Heating it for too long
can burn the butter
and make it acrid in taste.
Butter can also unfortunately
lead to oily sandwiches.
Daniel smeared mayonnaise on his bread
before adding it to a heated skillet.
- To be completely honest,
there's personal preference. [laughs]
- The addition of mayonnaise
does not leave the bread
oily on the surface.
It creates a barrier,
allowing for a more even heat penetration,
and a better hand-held sandwich.
[upbeat music]
When making grilled cheese,
there are countless ingredients
you can use to make a delicious sandwich.
Just make sure you're taking
your cooking medium and methods
into consideration.
[upbeat music]
- Go, me!
[hands clapping]
Nice job.
Pat on the back.
[hands clapping]
Mmm! Knock that out.
