Gruyere and Honey Sandwich

This is the fourth post in my on-going quest to find the perfect grilled cheese sandwich.  The last sandwich I made, the pesto and Brie grilled cheese, scored a solid 9 out of 10.  The only reason it missed a point really was so I could have room for improvement!

This was my latest attempt:

I got the idea for this sandwich from Kathy (@PaniniKathy) and she posted a similar version of the sandwich here.  She uses a Swiss cheese called, raclette, which I was completely unable to find in stores near me.  I figured Gruyere would be a good substitute.  I was right.

This sandwich is pretty easy to make.  First, I sliced up my Gruyere into sticks.  I used a little under a 1/4 pound of cheese per sandwich.  I made big sandwiches though.

As for the bread, I tried again to use Italian white bread for this sandwich and again I was a bit disappointed with the result.  It was alright, but I’m not looking for alright.  I’m looking for perfect.  I don’t think it is quite dense enough to make a really good grilled cheese.

As I was buttering my bread, I was smacked in the face by inspiration though.  I thought that maybe, just maybe, honey and Gruyere would go excellent with cinnamon, so I sprinkled some onto my bread essentially making cinnamon toast.

As you can see, the bread had some sizable holes in it.  This is not recommended when cooking with melted cheese and honey.

I like to build my sandwich in a cold pan and then slowly heat it up.  Sometimes people throw the ingredients in a super hot pan which is great for effect, but then your bread cooks before your cheese is melted which is disaster.

Obviously, I only butter and cinnamon one side of the bread.  Next, add the honey.  You do not need a lot and if you put more than about a Tablespoon it will just melt out of your sandwich and burn.  A little goes a long way here.

These things were tricky to cook.  Definitely the most challenging of the grilled cheeses I’ve made here.  The filling wanted to fall through the holes in the bread so I had to keep flipping a lot.  Also, the bread was pretty thick so it took longer to melt the cheese.

Luckily, I’m getting to be an expert at the grilled cheese.

I must say this sandwich was better than I was expecting.  The honey gives a very subtle sweetness to the whole thing and I think the cinnamon was a nice touch if I do say so myself.

Let’s rate it:

Cheesiness: 8. Gruyere is a great cheese.  It is a bit pricey, but it makes for a great sandwich.
Bread: 7. I think I can do a lot better on the bread.  It was pretty good once it was cooked, but very hard to deal with during cooking.
Fillings: 8. Honey and cinnamon worked great together in this sandwich.
Overall: 8. This was a very good sandwich, but not quite as good as the current leader in the race to find the perfect grilled cheese.

Have a sandwich that you think could compete?  Leave it in a comment or shoot me an email!