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Cheese Dreams
Cut thin slices bread and remove crusts. Cut in halves, cover with a slice (thin) American cheese, sprinkle with salt; paprika and cayenne; cover with another slice bread and saute on both sides in butter. These are more easily prepared small than large.
A fried cheese sandwich in miniature, from the era when "American cheese" meant a mild factory cheddar rather than a wrapped slice. The whole thing hinges on low, patient heat.
- The cheeseIn this period "American cheese" meant a plain young factory cheddar, sliced from a block. A mild cheddar or Colby gives the right flavour and melts the way the recipe expects; processed singles will work but taste flatter.
- Heat controlSaute over medium-low. Too hot and the bread browns in a minute while the cheese is still solid, which is the usual failure with a sandwich this thin.
- BreadThin slices from a close-crumbed white sandwich loaf; the recipe specifies only "thin," so cut them as thin as will hold together. Day-old bread holds up better in butter than fresh.
- SizeThe note about small pieces is practical rather than decorative -- halved slices are easy to turn without the filling sliding out, and quartered ones are easier still if you are serving them with drinks.
- SeasoningSalt, paprika and cayenne go on the cheese, not the bread. A light dusting of cayenne is enough; an eighth of a teaspoon across a dozen small sandwiches reads as warmth rather than heat.
- ButterAdd butter in small amounts as you go and wipe the pan between batches. Butter left in the pan across several rounds will brown and then burn, and the sandwiches pick it up.
- Yield and servingSix slices of bread gives twelve halves, which pair up into six small sandwiches. They must be eaten hot; a sandwich that has sat and cooled goes leathery.