Tag Archives: Food

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How to Make the Perfect Grilled Cheese

I originally published this on my Medium account on August 25, 2013
A grilled cheese sitting on a plate.

Grilled cheese sandwich, courtesy cohdra/Morguefile

Mention grilled cheese and most Americans would conjure up some memory of a warm, comforting creation made from layering the simple ingredients of bread and cheese. Perhaps something fancier, folding in caramelized onions, a variety of cheeses, sun-dried tomatoes for a dash of umami, or that flavor enhancer of the seemingly-endless moment — bacon. All these paths converge in a similar place, where glistening, laden crumbs on the edge of the bread, toasted golden for some, and on the edge of charred for others, with a gooey meld of cheese inside, occasionally threatening a slow escape into the buttery gates.

Last week, I took the remains of some two-year aged cheddar and cut the piece in half. My appetite demanded something tinged with nostalgia, and I had eaten most of the cheese by then, since I cannot easily avoid the words “aged cheddar”. I chopped the rather crumbly cheese up into bits and put it between bread, buttered my hot pan, and let it brown. Aged cheddar is on the drier side, so it does not melt as easily. The languid browning is worth the anticipation.

I placed the finished sandwich on my plate, picked it up, and took a bite.

Yet, something felt off. One thing in my otherwise careful setup that I did not do was cut the sandwich. I always cut my grilled cheese sandwiches into triangular quarters, because that’s what my grandmother always did. My maternal grandmother, who passed away just shy of three weeks before my 16th birthday, has been gone some time now, but every time I make a grilled cheese sandwich, her influence is always there.

When I sat there eating my grilled cheese, it felt wrong, but I ate it anyway. The sandwich itself tasted delicious, with the cheddar indeed worth the wait for it to melt. Yet breaking with tradition soured it on another level.

The next day, I made another grilled cheese sandwich with the last of the cheddar. This time I made it better, slightly less brown on one side, and of course, cut it into quarters. This time it tasted right.

Do you have any food traditions you’ve kept? Something passed down as habit from your family?

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I Tried It: Blue Hill Farms Butternut Squash Yogurt

Butternut Squash yogurt

Butternut Squash yogurt

Note: I’m starting a new, casual series of reviews on here. These will be grouped under the I Tried It category and tag. Food (and other) reviews are one way to keep in the habit of writing them. All of these will be for items purchased myself, unless noted otherwise.

I’ve become accustomed to eating plain yogurt, enjoying the creamy freshness and sour tang. Years ago, I wouldn’t have touched the stuff without sweetening it up. Now, I can have it either way. Yet the idea of savory yogurts still harbor a certain strangeness, something that doesn’t make much sense given how wonderful yogurt is in savory dishes. It cools the mouth and adds a creamy texture without the heaviness of butter and cream.

On a recent trip to a local grocery store, I noticed Blue Hill Farms’ line of yogurts in flavors such as sweet potato, butternut squash, carrot, and beet. I bought the butternut squash out of pure curiosity after reading the label. For 100 calories, the yogurt contained milk, butternut squash, sage, maple sugar, and other spices that all made sense to anyone who has ever eaten butternut squash soup. Butternut squash seemed like one of the easier to like flavors, along with sweet potato, but at $2.50 each 6oz cup, this experiment was going to be done one at a time.

The butternut squash yogurt has a pale orange tone, as might be expected, and after one spoonful, I was unsure if I wanted to proceed. Despite the fact this yogurt was sweetened, it was very sour and definitely savory. The flavors were reminiscent of butternut squash ravioli, which is something I love to eat. Yet, having that flavor come not in a pleasantly thick ravioli filling, but in a lightly sweetened, yet tangy-sour, thinner yogurt felt out of sync in my mouth. It was also reminiscent of butternut squash soup with a sour note.

Butternut Squash yogurt

Orange, tangy butternut squash yogurt.

I didn’t finish this yogurt, though I did continue eating it for a bit to see if my tongue would think of it as less strange over time and simply begin to enjoy it. The yogurt is seasoned well, but the flavor wasn’t balanced and that was a big reason why I won’t be trying more from this line. It just doesn’t work for me, but if you go in expecting a savory treat, something along the lines of a chilled squash soup, you may just love it.

With all of the flavors in this line lending themselves to sweetness so well, it was jarring to encounter something so sour inside. At $2.50 each cup, the cost did not justify further experiments.

Blue Hill yogurt comes in carrot, sweet potato, tomato, parsnip, butternut squash, and beet. More information, as well as full nutritional information is available at http://bluehillyogurt.com.

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On the Pulled Yoplait Ad

General Mills pulled a commercial for Yoplait yogurt because it was potentially triggering to those with eating disorders

The ad in question:

I felt it was reflective of a bad relationship with food, but unfortunately one that many women are familiar with. Eating, that very thing involved in our sustenance, becomes something that we judge our worth on because of social pressures. We bargain with ourselves like the woman in the commercial, and for some people, that can lead into dangerous territory. The thing is, there is no “bad” food if it fits into an overall healthy eating plan. So if she wanted the cheesecake, she should’ve eaten a reasonable sized slice and enjoyed it. No matter how many chemical flavoring agents you dump into an artificially sweetened yogurt, it will never be cheesecake. It may taste vaguely of cheesecake, but when you are craving cheesecake, flavor is but one element to consider.

Now, I say “women” here, but I am aware of the men who are also dealing with disordered eating (often more secretly). This ad, however, is squarely aimed at women (as is almost all yogurt marketing). Promoting lower calorie and healthier food choices is a good thing, but doing it like this is not. Just a bad message for some (obsessive thinking) and  it’s responsible of the company to pull it.