The Great American Grilled Cheese Experiment

The grilled cheese sandwich: It is the quintessential cuisine in the average American’s kitchen. It’s inexpensive and easy to make. Just slap some cheese between two slices of bread, fry it in a pan with a little butter and voila, the delicious, cheesy goodness is all yours.

The grilled cheese is absolutely wonderful in all its simplistic glory, but the traditional sandwich also offers seemingly limitless opportunities for innovation. Some folks like to add bacon or tomato, while others take it in a whole new direction and throw Ramen noodles on it. Yeah, Ramen noodles.

There also seems to be a loose consensus, as you’ll note below, that a grilled cheese goes oh-so-well with a bowl of tomato soup.

So what exactly are you putting on your grilled cheeses these days? We want to know, so please tell us in the comments below. In the meantime, for your culinary enjoyment, we serve up a list of your local Patch editors’ favorite spin on the grilled cheese. Buon Appetito!

Cassandra Day, Middletown Patch: I've been dying to try Food Network Chef Giada De Laurentiis' version, which calls for two slices of hearty sandwich white bread brushed with olive oil on the outside. Inside place two slices of buffalo mozzarella, chopped fresh rosemary and a generous spreading of raspberry jam. Before you place the sandwich in your grill, dust the outside with sprinkled brown sugar. Voila! Bistro-worthy grilled cheese even the kids will clamor over.

Laurie Rich Salerno, Meriden Patch: When I was a kid living in Illinois, my glamorous college-aged half-sister from New York came to stay for a weekend with us, and made her own version for me that despite its total simplicity in ingredients and preparation I have yet to replicate exactly (maybe it lives in my memory particularly tinged with her coolness). But the basic deal is sliced multigrain bread, a big hank of mild cheddar cheese, a few of those sweet round sandwich pickles and mayonnaise. She fried it, in I think butter, and it was genius. These days I do what I can, and usually make it with one of those organic tomato or butternut squash soups from a carton you can get in the frou-frou section of the grocery store.

Mike Bartolotta, East Hampton-Portland Patch: Well, I must admit, I do love grilled cheese, and never just one. Call me conventional - or boring - but my favorite is simply white bread, buttered on both sides, with at least two slices of American cheese (the cheesier the better). Of course, as my youngest daughter will agree, you can't burn the bread, so keep a watchful eye. If I am feeling ambitious, I might add bacon or make it a tuna melt, and in the winter, soup is a perfect complement.

Michael Hayes, Killingworth-Durham-Middlefield Patch: I enjoy the garden grilled cheese sandwich, Just add a fresh tomato, sliced very thin. It makes a great summer time snack, helps you get rid of all the extra tomatoes on the vine, plus its better for you. Just watch out when you bite into a hot tomato!

Bob Mayer, Berlin Patch: While the grilled cheese sandwiches we usually make at home are pretty much run of the mill, two slices of American cheese between two slices of white or wheat bread with an occasional tomato slice to liven things up. My favorite grilled cheese sandwich in town is at Remzi Asani's Par for the Course Restaurant at Timberlin GC. He uses thick bread and a combination of cheeses and the tomato is always fresh. Add some fries and it's heaven. The best grilled cheese I have ever eaten, however, was at my training for Patch in NYC. We went to dinner at The Smith in the East Village. Our first course was tomato soup with triangular chunks of lightly charred grilled cheese on top. You could eat the grilled cheese first or dunk it in the soup. I dunked it and it was delicious.

Eileen McNamara, Haddam/East Haddam Patch: When I was in high school a friend bought a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch one day in the cafeteria and proceeded to eat it with mustard. I was horrified. Mustard? On a grilled cheese. But horror turned to curiosity one day and I tried it myself, tentatively dipping a corner of my grilled cheese (traditionally made, two slices of Wonder bread, yellow American cheese, grilled in a bit of real butter) into a blot of yellow on my plate. Heaven! That and a bowl of tomato soup will get me through any cold winter’s day.