Grilled cheese sandwiches, one of America’s favorites, are pretty easy to make,. Yet they’re not problem free.

Sometimes, the cheese does not melt evenly or quickly. This is especially true when you hand-slice quality cheese from a block, as opposed to using thin, easy-melting plastic-wrapped singles.

So here’s an easy, fast and foolproof tip for grilled cheese success: Shred the cheese first. It takes only a minute, and cooks so much better.

The other key to grilled cheese success (as we define it) is superior cheese and bread. To many people, American cheese singles on white bread does the trick.

Here, that trick doesn’t even get cursory consideration! We demand great cheese and bread (personal preference: a rustic, chewy loaf).

 
RECIPE: FOOLPROOF GRILLED CHEESE

Ingredients Per Sandwich

Preparation

1. BRING the butter to room temperature. If you’re making more than one sandwich, preheat the oven to 350°F so you can keep the first sandwich(es) warm.

2. SHRED the cheese roughly, like pizza cheese. We used a vegetable peeler.

3. PREHEAT a heavy skillet over medium heat. Slice the bread.

4. SPREAD one side of both slices of bread with the softened butter. Be sure the butter is spread generously and evenly over the surface.

5. PLACE one piece of bread, butter-side down, into the hot pan. The butter will sizzle when it hits the heat. Top the bread with the shredded cheese. Add any other ingredients. Top with the second piece of bread, butter side up. Lightly press with a spatula.

6. CHECK the bottom slice after a minute. If the underside is golden brown, flip the sandwich and cook until the second slice is equally golden.

7. STASH in the oven to keep the sandwich warm while you’re making the next sandwich. If the cheese is not completely melted before, it will finish melting in the oven.

Making grilled cheese sandwiches in a nonstick Calpahlon grill pan. Photo courtesy Williams-Sonoma.

TRADER JOE’S TRUFFLED CHEDDAR CHEESE

We picked up Trader Joe’s Farmhouse English Cheddar Cheese with Italian Truffles yesterday. At $9.99 a pound, it’s twice the price of the Wisconsin Sharp Cheddar Cheese we also purchased. But it’s an affordable luxury, and has good truffle flavor.

Paired with some sliced rustic sourdough bread from Le Pain Quotidien, it made a most satisfying grilled cheese sandwich. The truffle flavor is a big flavor boost; but for our second sandwich we added some caramelized onions that we had in the fridge. Equally good!

The folks at Sam Adams recently sent us some Rebel IPA, an India Pale Ale made in the West Coast style. It was a perfect complement to our grilled cheese sandwiches.

What’s a West Coast IPA?

East Coast IPAs have a stronger malt presence to balance the intensity of the hops. West Coast IPAs showcase the hops more.

According to Wikipedia, East Coast breweries rely more on spicier European hops and specialty malts than West Coast. According to us: Both are delicious.
  

[2] While most people make a meatball hero or sub with round meatballs, using slices of a meatloaf makes the sandwich easier to bite (photo © Urban Accents).

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Here’s a suggestion from From Eat Wisconsin Cheese.com: Switch the popular meatball submarine sandwich for a meatball hero, sub, or hero whatever you call it in your neck of the woods (see the note below).

It’s an easy way to feed a crowd during events like the Academy Awards. If you serve half a hero to everyone, along with other nibbles, this recipe feeds 12.

> August is National Sandwich Month.

> October 9th is Submarine Hoagie Hero Grinder Day.

> October 18th is Meatloaf Appreciation Day.

> November 3 is National Sandwich Day.

> The history of the hoagie/hero/submarine sandwich.

> The history of the sandwich.

> The different types of sandwiches: a glossary.
 
 
RECIPE: MEATLOAF HERO SANDWICH

Ingredients For 6 Sandwiches

 
Plus

1. MAKE the meatloaf; Preheat oven to 375°F (conventional; if using a convection oven, preheat to 325°F).

2. COMBINE the meats, Asiago, egg, breadcrumbs, parsley, Dijon mustard, pepper, and salt in a bowl. Mix well and pack into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Bake the loaf until cooked through and browned, 55 to 60 minutes.

3. REMOVE the meatloaf from the oven and drain the fat. Cool completely before slicing into 12 slices.

4. BLEND the mayonnaise and mustard. Split the rolls and top each bottom bun with 1 tablespoon of the spread plus lettuce, 2 tomato slices, 2 meatloaf slices, and 2 provolone slices. Top with the roll tops, and serve the sandwiches with potato salad or French fries.
 
 
ONE SANDWICH, SO MANY NAMES

Hero is the New York term for the sandwich also called the grinder, hoagie, po’ boy, torpedo, submarine, zeppelin, and other names, depending on region.

The term “hero” originated in the late 19th century when the sandwich was created to serve Italian laborers, who wanted the convenient lunch they had enjoyed in Italy. The name is credited to New York Herald Tribune food writer Clementine Paddleford, who wrote that “you needed to be a hero to finish the gigantic Italian sandwich.”

The original hero sandwich, on an oblong roll, piled on Italian cold cuts, cheese, seasonings, oil, and vinegar. Varieties evolved to include the meatball hero, eggplant parmigiana, and chicken parmigiana heroes.

These days, basically, anything served on a large, oblong roll is a hero.

The other sandwiches—grinders, hoagies, etc.—developed with regional ingredients and preferences but also evolved to include anything served on a large, oblong roll.

FOOD TRIVIA: The sandwich is the #1 homemade dish.
 
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

If your Oscar party will include sushi, how about a platter that looks like a director’s slate?

This fun idea comes from SushiShop, which isn’t selling the “director’s slate” platters but developed this as part of an advertising campaign.

You can make it yourself with:

 
Your local sushi restaurant can create this for you, or work with you to create a different design with different sushi varieties (check them out in our beautiful Sushi Glossary).

Check out the different types of caviar.
  

Mom always made applesauce from scratch. Her apple of choice was the McIntosh, and she cooked them with the peel. It generated a pretty pink color when strained through a food mill.

When we first had commercial applesauce from a jar (that would be you, Mott’s) at a friend’s house, we couldn’t believe the difference in flavor and texture. That is to say, Mom’s was the winner by far.

For breakfast, lunch or a healthful dessert or snack, set up an apple sauce bar with custom toppings.

We share our Mom’s stove top recipe—so easy!—as well as a slow cooker recipe from the U.S. Apple Association.

If you’re avoiding refined sugar, you can cook the apples without sugar and sweeten the cooled applesauce with a noncaloric sweetener, agave, honey, etc.
TOPPINGS BAR

This applesauce is delicious in its natural state, but if you like to experiment you can try adding spices or lemon zest. Test your preference by seasoning half the batch after you remove it from the heat.

We easily devoured the two quarts of applesauce in a week; but if it’s too much for you, rather than reduce the recipe, stick it in the freezer. It freezes beautifully.

Ingredients For 2 Quarts

 
Preparation

1. QUARTER and seed the apples; don’t peel. Add to a pot of boiling water that covers the apples, top the pot with the lid, reduce the heat to simmer and cook slowly, until the apples are mushy, about 15 minutes.

2. TASTE and adjust the sugar if needed. If the texture is too thick for you, add water, a tablespoon at a time, until the desired thickness is reached. After adjusting either, re-boil for a second or two to blend.

3. LET cool. Process through a food mill. (If you remove the peel before cooking, you can pulse in a food processor). Serve at room temperature and refrigerate the extra.

Ingredients For 3-3/4 Cups

 
Preparation

1. PLACE the peeled apple chunks in the slow cooker and sprinkle with sugar, lemon, vanilla and salt. Stir to mix. Cover the cooker and cook on low for 4 hours.

2. UNCOVER the cooker and use a potato masher to coarsely mash the apples. For a really smooth sauce, you can purée in a food processor or blender, or use a food mill. Be careful when handling the hot apples and juice, cover the lid of the processor or blender with a folded towel and hold it closed as you turn on the machine.

3. TRANSFER the applesauce to sterilized jars and let cool. Cover and refrigerate for up to two weeks.

McIntosh apples, Mom’s favorites for applesauce. Photo courtesy Baldor Food.

APPLE STATISTICS

The U.S. Apple Association tells us that the United States has approximately 7,500 apple producers who grow nearly 200 varieties of apples, on approximately 328,000 acres. Nearly 100 varieties are in commercial production; the remainder are heirloom varieties grown in backyards and small-scale farming, generally sold at farmers’ markets.

The 2013 crop was estimated at 248.6 million bushels, with a wholesale value of the U.S. apple crop is more than $2.7 billion. Sixty-seven percent of the crop is grown for fresh consumption and 33% goes for processing (applesauce, pie filling, juice, fresh slices, etc.).

Apples are grown commercially in 32 states. The top ten apple producing states are, in order of size of crop:

 
The Top 10 apple varieties grown in the U.S. are, in order of crop size:

[1] Classic tuna poke. You can buy it ready-to-serve from Pete’s Seafood Club.

[2] At better restaurants, you may have a large choice of vegetables and seasonings to mix with your poke (photo © Dons Bogam | NYC) .

[3] This salmon poke bowl is packed with shredded crab leg, tobiko roe, avocado, black, red and green seaweeds, and spinach leaves (photo © Kabuki Restaurant).

[4] Tofu poke. The recipe is to the right (photo © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

[5] A poke “take” on musubi, Japanese rice balls (photo © Hoku’s At The Kahala | Kahala Hotel & Resort).

[6] Poke on a pizza (photo © Pizza Corner Hawaii).

[7] Poke tartare, chopped into tiny pieces. Unlike tuna tartare, poke retains all of the marinade and other seasonings (photo © Allison Tong | Flavor & The Menu).

[8] A colorful salmon poke bowl with cucumber, carrots, chives, corn, edamame, red cabbage, and summer squash, sprinkled with sesame seeds (photo © Miu Sua | Unsplash).

[9] Poke pizza from the Makai Poke Co. in Hoboken, NJ, alas, now closed.

[10] Chicken poke bowl. Here’s the recipe (photo Abacus A.I.)

Our colleague Hannah Kaminsky is on a food safari in Hawaii, the land of abundant produce and poke. A vegan, she discovered a tofu poke bowl and was inspired to create her own (the recipe is below, and you can certainly substitute tuna).

Poke is first and foremost a raw fish and vegetable dish served as an appetizer or salad course in Hawaiian cuisine. A relative of ceviche, crudo, tartare, and tataki, it’s a combination of raw fish and vegetables that becomes a salad appetizer.

Actually pronounced poe-KEH, it is mispronounced poe-KEY by enough people that the latter pronunciation is becoming an accepted alternative.

Poke is Hawaiian for “to section” or “to slice or cut.” Another meaning is “chunk.”

The most popular recipe, ahi poke, is made with yellowfin tuna cubes marinated in sea salt, soy sauce, roasted crushed candlenut (inamona), sesame oil, limu seaweed, and chopped chili pepper. Alternatively, it is served sashimi-style with wasabi and soy sauce.

Other types of tuna can be substituted for the ahi, or you can use a different seafood entirely: Raw salmon and octopus are popular. Vegetarians can substitute tofu—as in the recipe below.

Other accompanying condiments include furikake seasoning*, garlic, hot sauce (such as sambal olek), ogonori (ogo) or other seaweed, sesame seeds and tobiko (flying fish roe).

September 28th celebrates the traditional Hawaiian dish of raw, marinated fish. There’s a second holiday, National Fresh Poke Day, celebrated on August 15th**.

> The history of poke is below.

> Chicken poke bowl recipe with grilled chicken.

> The history of sushi.

> The different types of sushi and sashimi: a photo glossary.

> The year’s 6 sushi holidays.

> The year’s 56 fish and seafood holidays.
 
 
RECIPE: TOFU POKE

How about a variation for vegetarians? This recipe was “ever so slightly adapted from Aloha Tofu,” by Hannah. “Like some of the best dishes,” says Hannah, “this one couldn’t be simpler to prepare.”

“The basis is a classic dish made by the tofu masters themselves. Their rendition adheres very closely to the traditional fish-based formula, substituting fried tofu cubes for the raw fish—a move that should appease those who can appreciate tofu well enough, but not so much that they care to eat it raw.

“The finished dish is sold in their brand new eatery, but since I didn’t have a chance to scope out that scene as well, I’m grateful that the full recipe is published on their website as well. No strings attached, no gimmicks or marketing ploys; just the desire to share their tofu and new ways to enjoy it. Now that’s the Aloha Spirit in action.”
 
 
Ingredients For 4-6 Side Or Appetizer Servings

 
Preparation

1. TOSS the tofu, all of the chopped vegetables, and seasonings together in a large bowl. Thoroughly combine all of the ingredients and coat them with the marinade.

2. COVER and chill for at least 30 minutes before serving, or up to a day. Serve cold.
 

[9] Serve poke with sweet potato chips or mixed vegetable chips. In a pinch, pita chip or tortilla chips will work (photo © Blue Water Grill).
 
 
POKE HISTORY

Poke’s origins lie long before Western contact—which was the arrival of Captain James Cook to the Hawaiian Islands in 1778. How many centuries prior to then, we don’t know; but the dish may be ancient.

Initially, it was made with raw reef fish, seasoned with sea salt and seaweed, and combined with inamona—crushed kukui nuts (candelnuts). Salting also helped to preserve the fish for a subsequent meal.

Poke (rhymes with okay) literally means “to cut crosswise into pieces.” It has long been a simple dish made of chopped seafood†, often tuna, today marinated in soy sauce and sesame oil, which arrived with Japan immigrants in the latter half‡‡ of the 19th century. Onion and tomatoes, now also common ingredients, were some of the mainland vegetables introduced during the 19th century.

Today there are many variations of poke, including different fish and shellfish. Don’t be surprised to find octopus and mussel poke.

Beyond the original simple recipe of marinated fish with onion (photo #1), poke can now include avocado, cilantro, cucumber, crispy onions, mushrooms, pineapple, plain or pickled jalapeño, ponzu sauce, teriyaki sauce…and a much longer list.

Each group immigrating to Hawaii has added ingredients to poke, creating bacalao poke (made with Portuguese dried salt cod), furikake salmon, kimchi shrimp, miso tako (octopus), pipikaula (dried beef), and spicy ahi poke [source].

Everyday fusion spicing with wasabi and/or kimchee is common—as is poke mixed with mayonnaise.

Most historians agree that it wasn’t until the 1960s and 1970s, that the name “poke” was given to the dish. The name means “chunk” in Hawaiian. In the past poke was typically any meat or seafood that is cut into small chunks and marinated [source].

The naming poke coincided with ahi tuna becoming more readily available [source]—but we haven’t been able to connect the dots and explain why the coincidence.

The bright pink hue of ahi was far more aesthetically pleasing than dull, grey reef fish and it tasted better (although pricier).

In 1991, Chef Sam Choy, a promoter of the Hawaiian regional cuisine movement of the early 1990s, launched the first annual poke contest, which showcased inventive poke recipes from across the state.

When it arrived on the mainland (the Continental U.S.), poke took a path beyond the traditional marinated fish. Poke bowls emerged with added almonds, bamboo shoots, cauliflower, chicken, corn, kale, mango, orange slices, quinoa, zucchini noodles, and more.

It is now often served atop a bowl of rice, like chirashi sushi.

While those bowls would be unrecognizable in Hawaii, the state has created ahi poke musubi (rice balls—photo #6); poke inari sushi and sushi sliders (filled with poke); poke burritos, nachos, tacos and tostadas.

And yes, there is poke pizza (photo #7).

Today poke can be cooked or raw, cubed or scraped: It doesn’t even have to be fish or seafood, as illustrated by the Tofu Poke recipe above (photo #4).

The good news is that, in whatever form, poke has arrived.

________________

*Furikake is a dry Japanese seasoning meant to be sprinkled on top of rice. It typically consists of a mixture of dried and ground fish, sesame seeds, chopped seaweed, sugar, salt, and MSG. There are different blends, including Ebi Fumi Furikake, Katsuo Fumi Furikake, Nori Fumi Furikake, Noritamago Furikake, Salmon Furikake, Seto Fumi Furikake, Shiso Fumi Furikake and Wasabi Fumi Furikake. You can find them at Asian food stores or online.

**Why is there a Fresh Poke Day? Isn’t poke always fresh? Well…poke can be purchased frozen and thawed, as can sushi, and often it is pre-made in grab-and-go sushi in certain markets. Also, the fish can be pre-sliced, waiting to be mixed. So this holiday emphasizes the freshness front and center: You order it and it is sliced and mixed for you. “Fresh” signals an elevated experience, with fish that’s just been cut, and is vibrant and bursting with flavor (exactly how poke was meant to be!).

†In less civilized times, some Hawaiians would suck the flesh off the bones and spit out the skin and bones.

‡1778: Captain James Cook landed at Waimea Bay on the island of Kauai, becoming the first European to make contact with the Hawaiian Islands. Cook names the archipelago the “Sandwich Islands” after the Earl of Sandwich. A year later, Cook was killed by an angry mob at Kealakekua Bay on the island of Hawaii.

‡‡The first Japanese immigrants arrived in Hawaii in 1868 [source].