It's Kimchi Grilled Cheese! Here's A Recipe And How-To-Make-It Video.

It's Kimchi Grilled Cheese! Here's A Recipe And How-To-Make-It Video. These are the best cheeses to use in your next grilled cheese. (Photo: Evan Sung.
Adeena Sussman•

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This recipe is part of Crispianity: a column devoted to all foods crispy and crunchy, two of the most underappreciated attributes of a great dish. Author Adeena Sussman is a food writer and recipe developer, pairing here with her photographer friend Evan Sung. Sussman's most recent cookbook, coauthored with Lee Brian Schrager, is Fried and True: More Than 50 Recipes for America's Best Fried Chicken and Sides.

Would you think less of me if you knew my favorite after-school snack as a kid was a hunk of cheddar cheese, heated in the toaster oven until it spread and bubbled, the edges and underside hardened into a lacy sheet I'd eat like a chewy-crispy cracker? I hope not, because it's still perched at the top of my personal munchie pyramid, unlikely to have its position usurped anytime soon. These days I house that cheddar between two slices of buttered bread and dress it up with sweet, slowly caramelized onions and a layer of kimchi that cuts the richness of the cheese and delivers a necessary punch of heat. The secret is to use just a bit more cheddar than you ordinarily would. That way, when it oozes out into the skillet, it makes quick work of becoming the apotheosis of crisp — and the grown-up version of my childhood obsession.

Learn the technique in the crispy, oozy video below:

It's Kimchi Grilled Cheese! Here's A Recipe And How-To-Make-It Video.
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Prep Time
10
minutes
Cook Time
10
minutes
Servings
1
sandwich
Ingredients
  • 2 (1/2-inch) thick slices rustic white bread
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 cup caramelized onions
  • 1/3 cup jarred kimchi
  • 3-4 ounces sliced cheddar cheese
Directions
  1. Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat.
  2. Brush one side of each bread slice liberally with butter and arrange buttered-side down. 
  3. Combine onions and kimchi and arrange evenly over one slice of bread.
  4. Top with cheese, breaking pieces to fit the sandwich and allowing cheese to stick out beyond the edges of the bread.
  5. Top with the other slice of buttered bread, buttered-side up.
  6. Place in skillet, cover with additional skillet and grill until underside is golden and cheese is bubbly and browned on edges, 3-4 minutes.
  7. Flip and grill other side, 3-4 minutes.
  8. Serve hot and crispy. 
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