How to Make a Grilled Cheese like Alton Brown

by Cindi SutterFounder of The Spirited Table® - BY ANDREW BUI

Photo: Alton Brown via YouTube

This ain't no lunchroom far

I'm sure some of you have fond childhood memories of buttery grilled cheese lunches, lovingly prepared by your doting parents. But if you're anything like me, you instead have flashbacks to your least favorite aunt force-feeding you a sweaty microwaved heap of processed yellow squares stuffed between mushy slices of store-bought white bread. Ick.

Whether or not your sandwiches far surpassed mine, we can all appreciate an update to this kiddie staple. Thankfully, everyone's favorite Good Eats guru, Alton Brown, is here to reinvent those lackluster grilled cheeses of yesteryear.

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For his version, Brown breaks out the backyard barbecue to grill thick slices of country bread until they're certifiably GBD*, while using the same coals to melt a mix of cheddar and Gruyère via a spatula-turned-cheese melter with MacGyvered foil edges. The result is a charred, smoky and supremely gooey sandwich sure to make up for anything your childhood lunches might have been missing.

Check out the video below to see how our favorite mad-science TV chef cooks up his signature "grilled grilled cheese."