Grilled Cheese, 3rd Gen

And now for something completely different. Thin sliced New York Rye from Acme Bread, Istara Ossau-Iraty, unsalted butter and Kosher salt (makes for a great salted butter substitute) and luscious, red-ripe tomato slices.

I remember the first time I ever heard of a grilled cheese with sliced tomato. It was on the menu, with three cheeses to boot, at Katz's ("Never Kloses") Deli in Austin. Quite frankly, I was shocked and appalled. It would take a couple of years more and a friend who loved the joint ("The fried pickles are awesome," she proclaimed) before trying the contemptible concoction, with a side of fried pickles, no less.

To my surprise, a perfect marriage. Juicy, tart tomatoes, warmed over by mellow, nutty cheeses sandwiched between crispy toasted bread slices. Oh yes. According to my previous convictions, adding something to a grilled cheese, creates something different altogether (i.e. grilled ham and cheese, or any variety of the "melt"), but in this case, the something different was just a fantastic version of one of my favorites.

I haven't had that sandwich in years, and I've never made it myself. I don't remember the three cheeses (Swiss, Muenster, and provolone?), and the bread was nothing special, really. But I did have have the perfect tomato, and as we all know the perfect tomato must be savored quickly, its life is short and sweet.

And as for the cheese, Istara Ossau-Iraty is a sheep's milk cheese from the French Pyrénées. Ossau-Iraty (oh-soh ee-RAH-tee) in general is a firm, mellow, ivory colored cheese with the gentle tang of sheep milk complimented by a robust nuttiness. Perfect for a grilled cheese sandwich, if you ask me.

This has proved to be one of my greatest attempts at the grilled cheese, if I may say. The thin sliced bread crisped beautifully and held up well to the juicy tomato. And the cheese, oh man, so good for this sandwich. I can't say that it is bold enough for the classic, but in this combination, it was everything it needed to be: lightly sharp, salty, and melty.

If you don't know how it's done, a grilled cheese should be cooked so slowly on the first side that the cheese is nearly melted, and upon the turn over, it takes only a quick browning on the other side to melt the whole lot of cheese throughout with little, if any, oozing its way out of the sandwich. The trick here is to add the tomato just to the sandwich just before flipping; this way, you don't have a falling-apart overcooked tomatoes on your hands (literally) and you haven't had to disturb any delicious melted cheese to get those slices in there. It really can't get much better.

And by the way, fried pickles, delicious. Could use a side, right about now.