Gift Guides

Gift Lab: How to Make Grilled Cheese (in the Toaster!)

November 15, 2013

Anna Moreno | UncommonGoods

Research
I love a good grilled cheese. The gooey goodness inside reminds me of childhood meals, always paired with a tomato soup, of course. I first saw the Toaster Grilled Cheese Bags and thought it would be a fun, and super easy, way to make that delicious, buttery comfort food. I’d never heard of such a product before. How simple – just put it in a toaster! I’m, however, familiar with the iron-grilled cheese approach…enough said. In comparison, that ironing approach is quite barbaric.

Hypothesis
Given my experience with toast and grilled cheese, I suspect that the sandwiches will be nice and melt-y. However, the warm buttery flavor (that is signature to anything cooked with butter on a frying pan) will be missing.

Experiment
Step 1: Checking out the goods
The Toaster Grilled Cheese Bags are very different than I expected. They’re a silky-papery material. Very tough and pliable. So far, I’m impressed. Three bags are included in the package (wish it was four for those 4 slotted toasters). The grilled cheese in the picture looks really delicious – nice and golden.

Make grilled cheese in your toaster!
Toaster Grilled Cheese Bags | UncommonGoods

The Ooma Bowl
I love the clean and colorful look. It’s meant to easily fit into the hand for holding. Overall, the style gets two thumbs up from me. The bowl may also serve as a nice pet food dish? Food on the left, water on the right.

Ooma Bowl | UncommonGoods

Step 2: Assemble the ingredients
For my experiment I’m making 2 recipes.

First: The Classic. Simple and to the point; white bread, sharp cheddar.

Making Grilled Cheese

Second: Italian Craving–Featuring the Ooma Bowl. Yummy take on the classic done Italian style. My plan is to cut the finished sandwiches into sticks and use to use the Ooma Bowl for easy dipping. Using mozzarella, pesto spread, fresh basil, and sundried tomatoes. For the dipping sauce I’m using my favorite marinara Rao’s Homemade (it’s the best; I highly recommend trying it).

Italian Grilled Cheese

Step 3: Get’m grilled
Attempt Number One:
The Classic. It was pretty simple to get them into the bags. It needed a little maneuvering, but nothing difficult. I have a nice toaster that accommodates bagels. After getting them bagged I put them in, I set the toaster to level 4 and set it into motion.

Easy Toaster Grilled Cheese | UncommonGoods

The end result was not what I was hoping for. Setting 4 didn’t cut it. The cheese didn’t melt, and the bread was not toasted enough. Compared to the picture on the packaging, my sandwich was a total fail. Try again…

Sandwich

Attempt Number Two:
OK, the setting was too low; I overcompensated by upping the game to a level six setting. Also, I was thinking I would try to add some butter to the bread in hopes of obtaining that nice golden buttery glow. I melted 2 tablespoons and brushed the outsides of the bread with a pastry brush. Drum roll please…

I got the taste spot on and beautiful melted cheese. However, I ended up with burnt bread. It didn’t taste bad, but charred is no good either. Also, the butter made the bags all greasy.

grilled cheese

Toaster Grilled Cheese | UncommonGoods

Attempt Number Three:
I completed my attempts with the Classic recipe and moved onto the Italian Craving. First things first, I washed the bags. They got greasy from the butter and the melted cheese. Washing was incredibly easy. I used a simple sponge with handle and hot water. I hand dried, but noticed that the bags held moisture. I didn’t have time to let them air dry, so I continued on with the sandwich making.

I made a total of 4 sandwiches; all of which came out a little darker than I expected. I’m not sure what’s to blame. My toaster setting, the moist bags, the butter; I really am not sure. What I do know is that the sandwiches were tasty. (The chef has to taste their food before it leaves the kitchen).

Italian Grilled Cheese | UncommonGoods
Italian Grilled Cheese | UncommonGoods

Step 4: Plate and Taste
Time to eat, drink, and be merry. As planned, I cut the grilled cheese into long strips and placed them into the Ooma Bowl. I heated the sauce and added that to the smaller section. Et voila! A culinary masterpiece. (At least for moi, a simple cook.)

Grilled Cheese Fingers with Tomato Sauce

The bowl was easy to hold. Modeled by my fiancé (thank you for your help). Recommended for couch activities such as Sunday sports and Netflix. A delicious end to a full day of ingredient shopping and toaster cooking.

Grilled Cheese Dunk
Noah

Conclusion
Did these match up to the classic grilled cheese? Not completely; however, they were 1. Easy to make and 2. Melt-y and tasty.

Lessons Learned:
1. Don’t apply butter before toasting! It may be good to apply after? Question for thought.
2. The bags need to thoroughly dry before the next use. I later washed, hand dried, and placed on the handle of a frying pan to dry.
3. Toaster settings are key; you need to find the right one. (I have yet to find the right one for my toaster.)

Photo Credit: Moi! Anna Moreno
Model: My fiancé Noah Perkins

16 Comments

  • Reply sachintendulkar November 14, 2014 at 8:34 am

    You can add extra bits to your grilled cheese sandwich if you want. Tuna salad, sliced ham, sliced tomato, or even crispy bacon would be great!

  • Reply Sachin November 14, 2014 at 8:42 am

    grilled cheese sandwich if you want means totnescommunitywindfarm

  • Reply sachin November 17, 2014 at 12:21 am

    A grill is a piece of cooking equipment where the cooking surface consists of an open rack or grate with a heat source underneath.

  • Reply weird November 17, 2014 at 12:54 am

    YORE sandwich moriartyspub Taste is good

  • Reply Harish November 17, 2014 at 12:58 am

    An all time grilled favorite is the good old grilled cheese sandwich.

  • Reply jack edwin November 17, 2014 at 1:47 am

    thanks for the post totnescommunitywindfarm

  • Reply jesirasee November 17, 2014 at 2:34 am

    USe the Chicken and add low oils put sum ingredient for this dish.

  • Reply Sachin Tendulkar November 17, 2014 at 3:33 am

    Good food is useful for better health villascabovela

  • Reply Curly1b December 23, 2014 at 1:11 pm

    It’s much easier to put the butter on the INSIDE of the bread. (Just a little, you don’t want it dripping on the inside of the bag, either). If you have a microwave, you can put the sandwich in for less than 10 seconds to get a really hard cheese to melt. This also helps other foods to stick to the inside, i.e., ham, a scrambled egg, thin slice of tomato, etc. It’s so convenient without using a pan, you will start using pita, mini tortillas, etc.

  • Reply Curly1b December 23, 2014 at 1:12 pm

    Just to be clear, I meant you do this BEFORE you put the sandwich in the toaster bag.

  • Reply Annie November 11, 2016 at 2:41 pm

    Shout out for the Spokane Hoopfest shirt in the photo from this Spokanite! 🙂 Thanks for a thorough review. I’m going to give these bags a try!

    • Reply Emily G. November 11, 2016 at 3:40 pm

      Glad you enjoyed, Annie! Thanks for reading the blog, and we wish you many delicious grilled cheeses in your future.

  • Reply BARBARA SCHOENBERGER February 28, 2017 at 11:42 am

    I THINK THIS IS THE GREATEST THING SINCE BUBBLEGUM!!

    • Reply Emily G. February 28, 2017 at 1:50 pm

      Agreed, Barbara! We’d take an easy, mess-free grilled cheese over a pack of gum any day. So glad you love it.

  • Reply Rene S November 7, 2017 at 3:40 pm

    anyone use this product in a toaster oven?

    • Reply Hadley November 8, 2017 at 9:40 am

      Hi, Rene. We haven’t tested this product in a toaster oven ourselves, but word on the street is that the cheese will ooze out of the bags if they’re placed on their side. Bummer. We recommend using them in a toaster for precisely this reason.

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