Proper Grilled Cheese Toastie

Ingredients

• 4 slices of sourdough, not too thick
• 120 g mature cheddar, grated
• 60 g gruyere, grated
• 40 g soft butter
• 2 tsp english mustard

Method

1. Choose the bread

   Use slices about 1 cm thick. Any thicker and the bread is still cold in the middle by the time the outside is dark; any thinner and it goes brittle.

2. Grate, do not slice

   Mix the grated cheeses with the mustard and pile between the slices, right to the edges. Grated cheese melts evenly in the time available; sliced cheese leaves you with cold lumps and a burnt crust.

3. Butter the outside

   Butter the outer faces of the sandwich rather than the pan. Buttering the bread guarantees an even golden surface — butter in the pan pools and browns unevenly.

4. Cook low and slow

   Cook in a dry pan over a medium-low heat, pressing lightly with a spatula, for about 4 minutes a side. High heat is the classic mistake: brown bread, unmelted cheese.

   8 min

5. Rest before cutting

   Let it sit for a minute before cutting, or the molten cheese runs straight out onto the board.

   1 min