Happy national cheese on toast day, everyone.
I’m not a huge fan of celebrations and commemorations of frivilous things – you know, National Yoghurt Week, Use Your Indicators Properly Day, or the annual one-minute silence to remember the oppression suffered by left-handed people*. Attempts to steer the national consciousness or create a sense of national guilt about something are often a dangerous thing – Dianamania is a case in point.
But I will make an exception for national cheese on toast day. It is a truly great snack – quick, easy, tasty, and not many foods can boast that they not only look and taste great, but sound great too. And its beauty lies in its simplicity – my preferred way of making it is normal ordinary white bread, some plain old mature cheddar, and a splash of the Worcester sauce, with the cheese grilled until it nearly hardens.
So now we’ve commemorated cheese on toast, what other things, events, people or ideas deserve observance through a day, week or minute’s silence? What are your obscure causes that should be brought to the world’s attention?
* I may have made these ones up.
Thursday April 19 2007 at 1:36 pm |
I was going to have fish-finger sandwiches tonight, but it sounds like my plans have changed…
I’m with you on the general construction of the food, but might I suggest a spread of Dijon mustard on the toast before applying the cheese? It adds a delicious tang to proceedings. And what about sliced vs grated? It’s all about the grated for me, baby.
The Americans have a delicious alternative in the grilled cheese sandwich. Yum.
Thursday April 19 2007 at 1:53 pm |
Cheese is Evil!
why does no one believe me?
Thursday April 19 2007 at 2:27 pm |
Are you going to submit your recipe for cheese & toast for the contest? I think you might need to spice it up a little more to win. Perhaps using Justin’s idea of dijon mustard?
I cannot comment re: cheese and toast (even though this, technically, is a comment), but I can comment that grilled cheese sandwiches are delicious. I like them on wheat bread with cheddar and either onions or tomatoes on the inside. Delicious.
Thursday April 19 2007 at 2:58 pm |
Cheese on toast. Important distinction…
Thursday April 19 2007 at 4:57 pm |
i recommend bread, then sliced apple, then cheese, grated or sliced.
And Simon, don’t you grill the cheese until it softens not goes hard?
Thursday April 19 2007 at 5:00 pm |
Nice to see the debate maturing.
Jon, I grill the cheese til it goes soft, yes, but then eventually it goes hard. Or perhaps crispy is more accurate. Now I am making myself hungry…
Thursday April 19 2007 at 6:38 pm |
The cheese needs to be crispy, going well brown under the grill…wow, am ditching my sophisticated (would I lie to you?) plans for dinner…toasted cheese rocks.
Thursday April 19 2007 at 6:48 pm |
What is this crap? And Varwell, don’t pretend to these people you don’t commemorate the Princess Of Hearts along with the rest of us.
Thursday April 19 2007 at 7:40 pm |
I saw that today is also Big Curry Day. Perhaps the cheese on toast could be replaced by a massive cheese naan?
Thursday April 19 2007 at 7:48 pm |
Ooooh – Jon – your recipe for cheese ON toast sounds really, really good. Since your foreign ways of cheese on toast are obscure to me (at best), I will have to try your apple alternative in a US grilled cheese version. You have broadened my worldview. Thank you.
Thursday April 19 2007 at 10:14 pm |
spread pickle and sliced onion on the already toasted bread, then top with slices of cheese, 2 or 3 types preferably, and then grate LOTS of pepper over the top and add a dash of Worcestershire sauce, then grill till the cheese starts to bubble and go brown.
/me starts drooling
Thursday April 19 2007 at 10:15 pm |
oh, and it should be wholemeal bread, possibly with grains in.
Friday April 20 2007 at 7:13 am |
Vegemite & cheddar cheese toasted is da bomb!
Friday April 20 2007 at 9:49 am |
Heard a story on Radio 2 yesterday (yes, I am that old) about a chap who made cheese on toast, but didn’t have a grill. So he put his toaster on its side, and inserted the toast with cheese, horizontally. The chap was wearing only shorts (and I think some alcohol had also been involved), and so then when the toaster ‘popped’, it came firing straight out , and stuck itself ‘cheese side up’ to the man’s leg, leaving a rather nasty scorch mark. I guess that is the ultimate in cheese branding.
How many other closet Radio2 listeners are there out there?
Friday April 20 2007 at 10:15 am |
I listen to Radio 2 at work, I have to confess.
But I’ve never tried sideways cheese on toast. Could be the beginning of a new wave of extreme food…
Friday April 20 2007 at 5:13 pm |
Just wait until ‘Dianamania: The Musical’
Friday April 20 2007 at 8:33 pm |
Why, m0ok, is there toasted cheese in it?
Friday April 20 2007 at 11:31 pm |
It certainly won’t be short on cheese.
Saturday April 21 2007 at 8:55 am |
I have tried hard to like vegemite since moving to NZ since its full of vitamin B and is an australisian (copy) classic like timtams. But its vile; tastes like an extra salty oxo cube in paste format. However maybe i need to add it to cheese and toast – possibly some chemical reaction occurs during the toasting/melting process and it becomes edible…
Saturday April 21 2007 at 3:29 pm |
My favourite cheese is dutch Gouda (pronounced with a soft “gh” sound, a bit like the “ch” of loch) …but only the stuff you get in Holland; cut fresh from a cheese block large enough to stun a yak.
They don’t export genuine gouda, (anything else is a cheap imitation) so in my opinion the best cheese on toast can only be eaten legally in the Netherlands.
Saturday April 21 2007 at 6:17 pm |
“Vegemite” sounds like some kind of microscopic beastie that would lay waste to hectares of cropland resulting in a potato famine.
Come the time of judgment, will we see, in massive fiery letters, emblazoned across the sky…
“Vegemite are proud to sponsor the impending Apocalypse”?
Monday April 23 2007 at 1:02 am |
Carolyn – The trick with Vegemite is to use it sparingly. The only thing I like better than Vege & cheese toasty is to whack a bit of the black stuff on toast and top with avocado and maybe sprinkle cracked pepper and salt. Yum!