Tips for the ultimate toasted sandwich: crispy, gooey and irresistible
With its crispy, golden-brown exterior and soft interior of melted cheese, the toasted sandwich is without a doubt the king of lunch, snacks or a hangover breakfast. But as with everything in life, it’s all about the details. With the right cheese, thin bread and a few clever tricks, from now on you’ll only make ultimate toasted sandwiches.
Choose the right cheese
Not every cheese melts in the same way, and that makes the difference between a perfect cheese sensation and a disappointment. A nerdy tip: the lower the cheese’s pH value, the better it melts. Swiss Gruyère (named best cheese in the world several times) and Spanish Manchego are excellent: nutty, flavourful and wonderfully melty. Gouda works perfectly too. Cheddar works, especially combined with one of the cheeses above. So yes, your favourite cheese can join in, as long as you combine it wisely.
Here’s a tip right away: try this delicious toasted sandwich with Manchego and chorizo.
Thin slices of bread are key
Whole wheat bread, corn bread, white bread: it doesn’t really matter which bread you use. Much more important is that you don’t build a toasted sandwich with thick slices, because then the cheese can’t melt properly. Also not ideal: using bread with lots of holes in it. Although I can’t think of anything more delicious than dripping, browned bits of cheese seeping through those holes. To each their own. But in any case: do you still have some old slices of bread lying around? Use them up: stale bread becomes crispy faster while baking. Win-win.
Spread with mayonnaise
We already knew that butter on the outside of your sandwich makes your toasted sandwich crispier. But spreading mayonnaise on both sides really takes it to the next level. It also gives your toasted sandwich a lovely golden-brown colour and creates a protective layer during baking. And yes, really: there’s another spreadable ingredient that takes your toasted sandwich to the next level. A very surprising one, we can say.
Top with Parmesan
Best tip ever: sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top of the mayo. The cheese sticks nicely to the mayonnaise, and baking creates a hard cheese crust on top of both sides of your sandwich. Absolutely amazing!
Cook it in a pan
We prefer a toasted sandwich made in a pan over one made in a sandwich press, no matter what. Why? The bread becomes wonderfully crisp and slightly buttery, and the cheese melts perfectly in the pan because you have better control over the temperature. Cook over medium heat without butter, because there’s already enough of it on the sandwich. Although: ‘The crunchiness of your sandwich is unparalleled when you cook it in ghee,’ says FavorFlav’s Renée. So that’s another option.
Toasted sandwich from the microwave
And strange but true: apparently, your microwave creates the tastiest (and fastest) toasted sandwiches. Worth trying if you have a microwave.
Also read:
- The best melting cheeses for your toasted sandwich
- Chicken tandoori toasted sandwich
- Toasted sandwich or croquette on a napkin: why this is the most annoying lunch mistake
