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This Guy Tested 228 Grilled Cheese Sandwiches in 228 Days, Here’s What He Told Us
Food & Wne ^ | April 12, 2024 | Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner

Posted on 04/12/2024 5:32:53 PM PDT by nickcarraway

A Utah cheddar rubbed with garlic, celery seed, and cayenne is one of his favorites.

Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner has spent over a decade working as a writer in New York City. She currently covers all aspects of food, dining, travel and lifestyle trends and the intersection of culture, business and politics in these areas. Her work appears in The New York Times, Real Simple, Vogue, Bon Appetit, Glamour, Time Out, Forbes, Conde Nast Traveler and several more publications.

The limit doesn’t seem to exist for Reddit user Pkonko37 — at least, not yet. The North Carolina grocery store worker, who insists on remaining anonymous, has been making a grilled cheese sandwich every day for more than 200 consecutive days and counting — using a different cheese each time and posting the deliciously gooey results to a massively popular Reddit feed with more than 400,000 members.

The idea for the fromage-forward project started when the Redditor — also nicknamed Cheese Realm Knight (or CRK) — secured a position as a cheese specialist at his store. “I’d have little odds and end pieces and my gut reaction was just to put it on some bread and then toast it up,” he told Food & Wine via Zoom (camera off, of course). “And then the more I tried, the more I wanted to share my discoveries and my fascination with as many people as I could.”

24 Cheeses These Chefs Always Have in Their Fridges

Each day, CRK posts a photo of his plastic-gloved hand holding up the grilled cheese sandwich he’d just made using a new variety of cheese — complete with notes ranking each one for flavor and meltiness and any other review notes he wants to share. Because just like his work behind the counter, he finds joy in imparting his cheese knowledge to the masses. For instance, Day 220 saw Chalet Cheese Coop’s Pannaro gouda and Parmesan blend, which he deemed “top tier” with a great melt and a flavor that was “nutty and rich.”

“The more I familiarized myself with cheese, the more I wanted to introduce different things to different people in a more palatable, broken-down way, than the usual mystique of what is the cheese world,” CRK explained. “I try to approach it in a pseudo-scientific way.”

The 6 Best Cheeses for Grilled Cheese

And his way is, indeed, on the methodical side: Every grilled cheese sandwich is made on the same type of bread — a standard slice. And he lets each cheese sit out for approximately 20 to 30 minutes before pressing the sandwich. The only other ingredient in his sandwiches is the nonstick spray on the pan.

“I took this tip from how people prepare their steaks,” CRK said. “It gets to room temp, and then you can bring it from room temp to cooked and it vastly improves it. You get a much nicer melt and heating process through the bread and the cheese.”

As of day 226 in his quest, CRK has determined one very important thing: His favorite cheeses all come from Wisconsin. “I used to think Wisconsin cheeses were just, like, self-boosting. But once I’ve tried as many cheeses as I have, I kind of get it now. There’s a lot of great creameries over there that I fully support.” He’s also a big fan of flavored cheese — like a Bloody Mary cheese from Wisconsin’s North Country Cheese; Deer Creek’s The Rattlesnake, a cheddar infused with tequila and habanero; and Beehive’s Big John’s Cajun, a Utah cheddar rubbed with garlic, celery seed, and cayenne.

So far, he’s found that the majority of cheeses will work in a grilled cheese sandwich. And he’s still not sick of eating it on the daily. “If I was to have grilled cheese every single day for the rest of my life, I would be perfectly content with that,” he says.

Initially, CRK had planned to taste just 100 cheeses before wrapping up the project, but the support on Reddit kept him going. “Everyone’s cheering me on,” he said. “I can’t think of any other food that’s just as good every single time without getting sick of it. There seem to be endless variations. I want to encourage other people to try it out and pick a new cheese.”

Don't Be a Snob About American Cheese

Still, the subreddit may conclude after 365 cheeses, which CRK feels is a good place to end. After a year of melty adventures, he’s open to another enthusiast picking up the baton and posting their daily grilled cheeses. The best part of the project was seeing how grilled cheese can be a gooey community builder.

“I’ve had people comment and tell me that they’ve been trying new cheeses and how discovering new things has been a bonding experience for their family and friends,” he says. “That feels very encouraging and exciting to be able to put that kind of newness and funness into the atmosphere.”


TOPICS: Food
KEYWORDS: food; grillledcheese; sandwich; wne
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To: metmom

Margarine…..
Ugggh.

…..


41 posted on 04/12/2024 7:45:24 PM PDT by Mears
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To: Mears

MANY years ago we tried margarine. The one that tasted best was *I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter*.

Then I read the label ingredients.

Now, I have a degree in science, but there was stuff on that label that I couldn’t even pronounce. That’s when I decided that buying real butter was one of the luxuries we were going to be able to afford.

My body knows what to do with real food. It doesn’t know what to do with all this processed fake food crap. Aside from fake fats, that includes fake sugar and fake meat.


42 posted on 04/12/2024 7:54:07 PM PDT by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus…)
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To: metmom

I am old and remember my grandmother mixing margarine with an orange dye pack…..margarine was white when purchased……this was in the war years.

….


43 posted on 04/12/2024 8:21:40 PM PDT by Mears
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To: Bullish

A proper grilled cheese needs to be grilled in butter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To messy... I just take the real old cheddar out of the fridge and cut a bunch into nice thin slices. Then pop two pieces of bread in the toaster....it’s got to be nice bread like pumpernickel, ciabatta or even a focaccia that is not super fresh. Put the cheese between the toast and press them together.... voila.


44 posted on 04/12/2024 8:21:52 PM PDT by hecticskeptic
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To: metmom

What’s margarine? Never heard of it, and it never comes near my kitchen.


45 posted on 04/12/2024 8:33:08 PM PDT by Bullish (...And just like that, I was off the ping list.)
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To: hecticskeptic

Nope, sorry not even close.


46 posted on 04/12/2024 8:33:57 PM PDT by Bullish (...And just like that, I was off the ping list.)
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To: catnipman

I have grilled cheese a LOT, but my favorite is two slices of bread with a slice of Kraft American Cheese (not the individually wrapped ones) on top of each ... put on a cookie sheet and broil until toasty brown and PUFFED up......like 2 miutes....YUM!


47 posted on 04/12/2024 9:29:12 PM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: catnipman

Or he’s constipated.


48 posted on 04/12/2024 10:19:08 PM PDT by bgill (.)
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To: dfwgator

Yay. Cheese shop reference.


49 posted on 04/12/2024 10:31:24 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: metmom

AHEM!

And comes in second with healing powers, after Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup!


50 posted on 04/12/2024 10:44:32 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Bullish

NOW you’ve done it!

A religious war tomorrow between the Pamists and the Butterists is SURE to occur!


51 posted on 04/12/2024 10:47:53 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Hyman Roth

I hope you just slipped and missed the ‘M’.


52 posted on 04/12/2024 10:49:09 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Bullish

Bill, an unscrupulous painter, would often dilute his paint when hired to do a job, and pocket the money he’d save.

One day, the local church decided to do some long-awaited maintenance, and hired Bill for the job.

Bill gets to work, and after a good few hours, he’s nearly done - as he stands on his scaffolding to finish off the steeple, he smiles to himself: the paint job looks pretty good, he’s scammed the church out of a few hundred bucks, and he’ll be done before dinner.

Suddenly, thunder ensues, a huge bolt of lightning knocks Bill right off his scaffolding, and the skies open up - and all of Bill’s newly-applied paint washes right off the church.

Bill, a religious man despite his thievery, knows it’s a sign from God. He falls to his knees in a puddle of rainwater and paint, and cries, “Oh God, forgive me! What should I do?”

And amongst the thunder, a booming voice: “REPAINT! REPAINT! AND THIN NO MORE!”


53 posted on 04/12/2024 10:54:24 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

#7 - I love that!


54 posted on 04/12/2024 10:54:53 PM PDT by Allegra (Less propaganda would be appreciated. )
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To: HartleyMBaldwin

The capybara adds a bit more zest than the chupacabra.


55 posted on 04/12/2024 10:56:58 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: metmom

Yup!


56 posted on 04/12/2024 10:57:45 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Mears

Then you ain’t THAT old!

I, myself, used to do it when that was all mom good afford.


57 posted on 04/12/2024 10:59:18 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Ann Archy
(not the individually wrapped ones)

Yeah - who needs the hassle?

58 posted on 04/12/2024 11:00:10 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Elsie

Who knew the links between certain faiths would have drug the Marginists into the fray?


59 posted on 04/12/2024 11:01:30 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: nickcarraway

My favorite is grilled pimento cheese with bacon!


60 posted on 04/12/2024 11:02:07 PM PDT by Repeal The 17th (Get out of the matrix and get a real life.)
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