@jonsblond We didn’t call it grilled cheese, we especially did not call it a grilled cheese sandwich. In my post a few more up I described it as open faced, but my grandma would not even have said that, I just used the term because I thought people on the Q would understand what I meant. My grandma would have just described it as bread with browned cheese on top. I swear I think it tastes better under a gas broiler. Something about the fire rather than an electric heating element.
For me, grilled cheese is pan friend (ironically) with some butter or margarine in the pan, two slices of bread and cheese in the middle. When my husband says he wants a grilled cheese, I go through the choices with him to clarify if he wants the pan version, just toasted, or open faced. Just toasted would be a regular sandwich, but no added butter or margarine. I make it in the toaster oven. If it is going to benopen I would need to know just melted? Or, browned also?
We actually have one of the sandwich makers where it cuts the sandwich into triangles and heats up the bread and cheese, but I almost never use it.
My grandparents like everything browned, their toast dark, cheese browned, etc. it might be their European background? I don’t know. I see in my husband’s family their idea of great bread is not the same as mine. Not that one is really better than the other. The European breads have a heaver crust compared to Mexican ones. I still like Wonderbread and Sunbeam though LOL. Depends ön what I am making.
My grandfather’s family actually owned a bakery. I feel like their tastes for cheeses and bread were more sophisticated. It wasn’t even a money thing, just where they were from and living in NY the products were easily available in their day without a huge markup.
Even when I make frozen pizzas I make sure the cheese gets browned a little.