Grilled, Gooey, Glorious: Sandwich or a hug?

Grilled, Gooey, Glorious: 

Sandwich or a hug? 

Unless you've reached yogic levels of detachment and are प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठित (Pragya Pratishthita, with wisdom established) as described in the Bhagavad Geeta, complete with inner peace, zero WiFi, and as serene as Rishi Vashishta himself, how can you stay unmoved, untouched by the happenings in the world these days? What are most of you doing right now? Passionately/grudgingly agreeing or disagreeing, or just rage-scrolling through the chaos half of which is caused by (or blamed on) the drama factory of the day, the United States of A?

But pause, let us thank them, read on. For once, the Usanians (The word should be used more frequently for ease of expression.) have united the world with a sandwich; specifically, the humble grilled cheese, giving it its own special day: National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day—celebrated every April 12th (today for us, tomorrow for them). What did you think I was going to talk about- tariffs/stock market/immigration policy?

Cheese and bread, as simple as that. It is a combination many cultures the world over, have enjoyed since ancient times, say food historians.

Romans, as in most other cases, were the pioneers, serving melted cheese on toasted bread as open-face sandwiches. But when sliced bread became available in the 1920s, the modern grilled cheese sandwich pushed its ancestor to history.

Besides hundreds of other comforts, Industrial Revolution also brought with it the bread slicer, curtsey Otto Frederick Rohwedder, and later James L. Kraft ‘crafted’ processed cheese. Bless their souls, for together, they created the jadu ki jodi (magic pair) of sandwiches.

Apparently, nothing boosts morale like melty cheese. WWII Navy cookbooks mention ‘American cheese-filling sandwiches’ being grilled en masse for troops. After the war, soldiers came home and with them came the taste for grilled cheese.

In the 1960s, the sandwich finally earned its official title: grilled cheese when the gooey edible lava shed its half-naked form and found itself covered with slices of bread on both sides. The Swiss, of course, have their own swank version—melted raclette cheese ‘smeared’ like butter on bread.

I even heard of the Americans deep-frying it and calling it Cheese Frenchie. Why give the French such honour (like for French fries), is beyond me. Is it because as far back as 1902, the French started with ‘Croque Monsieur’ (toasted bread, ham, cheese and béchamel sauce)?

Some of you must be wondering why I am going gaga over a grilled cheese. No, do not confuse it with paneer (Indian cottage cheese) sandwich.

I am emotionally bonded to this sandwich. I personally whip up everything from ‘phateechar’ (raggedy) versions to what I confidently consider gourmet-ish ones for my lunch treats.

It is in the no-rival category of foods because if you are a human who deciphers all the Captchas and can light a burner, you sure can make it.

In Benny & Joon (1993), Johnny Deep playing Sam, prepared a stack of grilled cheese sandwiches with, if you please, a clothes iron.

Trust their customizability. You can use white, brown, multigrain, sourdough bread. The crust is precious, keep it. Mix and match cheeses; Mozzarella, cheddar, old favourite Amul grated or slices, whatever your pocket allows.

Give wings to your creative skills. Cut out fancy shapes, and thickness of bread slices. Swap the butter for mayonnaise. It makes the toast crispier from outside. Garlic butter, anyone?

Do you want to go Subway style and add veggies, chicken, boiled or scrambled eggs? Or you could, like the Umreekans, add jalapenos, crushed potato chips, pickles, or (I don’t like their presence but) caramelized onions, with the cheese.

Dip the devil in sauce. Use whatever you like best- sweet chilly/Thousand Island/Sriracha/tomato ketchup/mango chutney.

Turn the magic chef with the seasonings, or go desi with spicy variations- garam masala, dhania (coriander) chutney, aam achar masala (spice mix for mango pickle), Andhra tomato pickle.

The traditional accompaniment for the sandwich is tomato soup which say food experts, complements the fatty, cheesy flavours perfectly.

But we resilient Indians who’ve survived everything from foreign invasions to strange political regimes, have the divine right to pair our grilled cheese not just with any kind of soup, salad or shake, but with chai, filter coffee, nimbu pani, rasam. Anyone willing to try it with Old Monk?

The purists who stay away from fuss and frills, can always stick to just bread, butter, and gooey cheese. No wonder, it was originally called a Cheese Dream.

You have to trust my ‘research’ that one of these lucky guys with a Virgin Mary pattern, sold for $28,000 in an eBay auction 2004. The buyer bought it with the belief that the 10-year-old (yuk!) food item had miraculous properties.

And one ‘competitive eater’ Joey Chestnut who holds the hot dog eating record, wolfed down 47 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes.

Take a break from dal-chawal (dal and rice) for lunch today. Celebrate the day! Or ‘Grill, baby, grill,’ as Mr Trump might say it!

Because some of the best things in life come wrapped in carbs and cheese. And sometimes, that is all we really need to be happy!                                                                                                                                             - Anupama S Mani