‘Best’ grilled cheese sandwich needs 1 extra ingredient – not butter

A chef has shared the key recipe to making the “best” grilled cheese sandwich “on earth” and it’s partly due to the inclusion of one important ingredient – and it’s not butter.

The humble grilled cheese sandwich, also known as a cheese toastie or toasted cheese sandwich, is a beloved and relatively simple dish. It’s typically made with sliced or grated cheese which is added between two slices of bread and then cooked on a frying pan or griddle with butter until the cheese melts and the bread turns a crisp, golden brown.

Everyone has their preferred method and ingredients when it comes to whipping up the hearty sandwich but for those looking for a more elevated spin on the popular dish, a chef has the answer – and it all comes down to the prep work and ingredients.

Chefs Jack Croft and Will Murray are the creators and directors of the sustainable, high-profile London restaurants Fallow, Roe and FOWL.

On YouTube, Will recently highlighted his research into making the perfect grilled cheese sandwich then crafted his own after testing “some of the world’s most iconic grilled cheese sandwiches” from London to Paris.

In addition to essentials like bread and cheese, the chef created a bechamel sauce – and added 30g of mayonnaise to the sandwich for extra depth.

Will Murray’s “ultimate grilled cheese recipe”

The dish requires the following ingredients:

Demonstrating on YouTube after sampling a variety of restaurants’ grilled cheese sandwiches, Will explained: “We’ve come up with our own technique. Get a good loaf of white bread. And then I’m just going to top and tail it and take all the sides off.”

He used “a closed tin white loaf” and said, despite other versions of beloved grilled cheese sandwiches being made with brown bread, for him, “it has to be a white bread”.

After removing the edges from all sides of the loaf, the chef started cutting into it to create “half an inch thick” slices – but he cut the loaf length ways, as opposed to horizontally like traditional sliced bread.

The chef was “left with six slices” which he “spread out on a baking tray” and baked on “160°C for 10 minutes until just crisp”.

This is where the effort turns up a notch. Will then made a bechamel sauce by melting butter and flour in a saucepan on a “medium heat” and “whisking continuously for one minute” until creating “a golden roux”.

He then “slowly” whisked in the milk and allowed the bechamel to thicken before removing it from the heat and adding in the grated red Leicester cheese and whisking “until you’re left with a silky, full homogenised cheese sauce”.

The sauce was seasoned with salt, then “transferred to a tray and put in the fridge to chill”.

After it cooled down, Will used “a spatula to scrape the contents into a mixing bowl before whisking vigorously until it loosened slightly and looked smooth”, and folded the grated Gruyere through.

Then, it came time to assemble the grilled cheese – he laid the toasted bread out and spread “50g of the bechamel mix on all but one of the pieces.”

The slices were then stacked “one on top of the other, topping with the final slice without bechamel” and all sides were trimmed then “portioned width-ways into four”.

This is where the mayonnaise came into play – all sides of “each portion” were brushed with it.

To finish the “ultimate” sandwich, Will heated two tablespoons of clarified butter in a pan and fried each portion “until golden brown”, flipping over to repeat the process.

Once done, the portions were transferred to a baking tray, “brushed with more clarified butter” then baked “in the oven for 10 mins or until the cheese has started to run out”.