Cheese toast served with a side of tomato soup. Also known as cheese-on-toast, these two go hand-in-hand together, and, truth told, I enjoy dipping this munchy-crunchy oven-toasted side-dish into my creamy-steamy soup better than the overwhelming favorite amongst the masses: the slightly-greasy skillet-fried grilled cheese sandwich (served with a side of tomato soup). I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because my dad preferred cheese toast to grilled cheese, or, perhaps it's because it was one of the first meals my mom allowed me to prepare sans supervision.
To a budding young cook -- kitchen independence is bliss.
Everyone makes cheese toast a bit differently, but, the worst thing you can do is overthink it. It's cheese on toast. Period -- and ordinary white bread will do just fine. My mom started by stirring a bit of mayonnaise, ballpark (yellow) mustard, a drop or two of Worcestershire sauce and a scant amount of black together in a small bowl. Sometimes she used two slices of white American cheese, sometimes she used two slices of yellow American cheese, sometimes she used one slice of each -- whatever she had on hand was fine. There's no need to take the time to slice the cheese slices into thin strips, but, she did, and for some reason, the cheese seems to melt better.
It's cheese on toast. Period. Please don't overthink it:
1 slice White bread
2 teaspoons mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon ballpark mustard
2 drops Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon coarse-grind black pepper
2 slices American cheese, white or yellow or one slice of each, slices cut into thin strips
~Step 1. In a small ramekin, stir together the mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and pepper. Using a chef's knife, slice the cheese into thin strips and set aside. Place the slice of bread in the toaster and lightly-toast it, just until barely brown, about 45-60 seconds. Keep an eye on it because you do not want to over-toast the bread. Remove the toast from the toaster and place it on a small broiler pan that will fit in the toaster oven. Preheat the toaster oven to broil.
~ Step 2. Slather the bread with the mayonnaise concoction. Scatter the thin-sliced cheese slices on top. Place under the broiler of toaster oven until cheese is bubbly and melted, 30-45 seconds. Watch carefully as the the cheese will go from melted and bubbly to browned and burned quickly. Serve immediately.
Serve immediately w/a side of creamy tomato soup:
Unembellished Perfection -- Classic Cheese Toast: Recipe yields instructions to make 1 slice cheese toast.
Special Equipment List: small ramekin; spoon; cutting board; chef's knife; small, disposable, toaster-oven-sized aluminum broiler pan, preferably the kind with a corrugated bottom
Cook's Note: ~ Say Cheese Please: Making Perfect Welsh Rarebit ~. It's the original cheese toast and worth mention that I've only eaten what I believe to be the real-deal once. It was in the latter 1990's, in Wales, in the exquisite Coed-Y-Mwstwr Hotel (coy-dee-moo-ster). It came to me as a complimentary side to a lovely salad (which I ordered after returning from shopping in the city of Cardiff). The cheese toast, along with everything else in this hotel, was perfect. I kicked off my high-heels and enjoyed it in my lavish room, overlooking the How-Green-was-My-Valley countryside, with a very English G&T too. After that trip, I not only gave cheese toast a lot more thought, I started taking it seriously. Unembellished perfection.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2021)
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