Every American knows, from birth, that a grilled cheese sandwich is the #1 comfort food.In fact, it is a staple for the under 10 crowd! Last year I held a grilled cheese contest in my family. It was so much fun!
Well, we’ve done it again! This weekend was the
2nd Annual Johnston Family Grilled Cheese Contest
We had contestants from as far away as Raleigh, North Carolina, & St Louis, Missouri. There were 21 people present, ages 4 through 90. From those 21 people, a total of 10 types of grilled cheese sandwiches were created. Actually, one of those types was good old white bread with American cheese. The little ones much prefer the traditional sandwich. The adults, on the other hand, have spent the las
t year thinking and creating a variety of grilled cheese sandwiches.
Each contestant had a few guide lines to follow.
1) They were to bring all their ingredients and prepare 4 sandwiches, each to be cut into 6 pieces (trust me, you don’t want to eat 10 whole sandwiches!)
2) Cheese must be the main ingredient of the sandwich. All condiments are acceptable, but meat, poultry and seafood must not be more than 10% of the sandwich. There has been and will be much discussion on this point. I think as long as 50% of the sandwich fillings is cheese, any and everything else is acceptable. The 10% number was set by my son, Chuck, who just likes to stir things up a bit. It is always fun when he is around!
Last year’s contest was won by my brother, Tom Johnston, stunning everyone with a simple farm style bread with sharp cheddar and dill pickles! As reigning champion, Tom acted as judge and he and Vicki hosted this year's event.
We had contestants from as far away as Raleigh, North Carolina, & St Louis, Missouri. There were 21 people present, ages 4 through 90. From those 21 people, a total of 10 types of grilled cheese sandwiches were created. Actually, one of those types was good old white bread with American cheese. The little ones much prefer the traditional sandwich. The adults, on the other hand, have spent the las
t year thinking and creating a variety of grilled cheese sandwiches.Each contestant had a few guide lines to follow.
1) They were to bring all their ingredients and prepare 4 sandwiches, each to be cut into 6 pieces (trust me, you don’t want to eat 10 whole sandwiches!)
2) Cheese must be the main ingredient of the sandwich. All condiments are acceptable, but meat, poultry and seafood must not be more than 10% of the sandwich. There has been and will be much discussion on this point. I think as long as 50% of the sandwich fillings is cheese, any and everything else is acceptable. The 10% number was set by my son, Chuck, who just likes to stir things up a bit. It is always fun when he is around!
Last year’s contest was won by my brother, Tom Johnston, stunning everyone with a simple farm style bread with sharp cheddar and dill pickles! As reigning champion, Tom acted as judge and he and Vicki hosted this year's event.
The nine gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches entered were as follows:
From Raleigh, Ann and Bruce Wilkinson, my sister and brother-in-law, made a sandwich that came from an idea suggested by a cousin in Dublin, Ohio. They prepared a Bacon Cheddar Cheese on Jalapeno Sour Dough. Right in the middle of the sandwich was a layer of Macaroni and Cheese! After receiving some grief and teasing from the other contestants, namely Chuck, the sandwich drew applause. It was wonderful! It was given the name “Cousin Sarah’s Grilled Cheese” In Chuck's own words..."Uncle Bruce, that is pretty damn good!"
The 2nd sandwich was prepared by my niece, Courtney. Named the “St Louis Special”, she used an excellent Rosemary Olive Oil Bread, Smoked Provolone Cheese and fresh Roma Tomato slices. The simplicity was wonderful!
The 3rd sandwich was my daughter-in-law Michelle’s creation called “la Provence”. She started her sandwich by marinating fresh goat cheese in a local honey infused with lavender flowers. It was tucked inside two
slices of a multi-grain bread then grilled…and was absolutely delicious!
“Betsy’s Bitchin’ Grilled Cheese” was a hot and spicy sandwich, prepared on a Jalapeno Focaccia, The flat round loaf was split horizontally, then stuffed with Mexican Queso and Gouda cheeses, then topped with Pico de Gallo. Grilling the whole round loaf created a rich crispy crust!
Betsy’s husband, Ben, (my son-in-law) decided to enter his own creation, and it was a big hit! “il Bastardo” started with Cheddar Cheese Bread, layered with Oceola Cheese company’s Oceola Melting Cheese with sautéed red and green bell peppers and onion, and fresh cilantro. Both Betsy’s and Ben’s sandwiches were served with a side of Pico de Gallo and Guacamole!
My sandwich, “the International”, was the next to hit the griddle. I started with Challah, a Jewish bread , then built the sandwich by layering Gouda cheese from Holland, caramelized Italian cipollini (onions), thinly sliced American Heirloom Tomatoes, and fresh Basil (Overland Park, Kansas!). It was actually too thick to heat through and difficult to turn over on the griddle, but it did have a great flavor.
My niece, Ashli, was next with her “Stanley Special”. Ashli said she changed her mind 4 times during the day, trying to decide which of her creative sandwiches she would prepare for us. The Stanley Special was an excellent choice! Large slices of perfect sourdough bread were covered with slices of smoky chipotle cheese…just that simple, and simply marvelous!
Note: by this point in our evening, everyone was feeling really stuffed and we had two more sandwiches to go! We all understood the importance of the contest and decided to hang in there and continue on with the challenge. Dedication!
Next up were Cindy and Dennis, my daughter and son-in-law. They chose to prepare a “Rosemary Focaccia Robusto”. The combination of the Rosemary bread, the Italian Robusto cheese and the grilled red bell pepper strips thrilled everyone.
Last, but certainly not least, my sister-in-law, Vicki, prepared “The Kiki”. She started with a delicious dark and robust Pumpernickel bread, spread with Honey Dijon mustard, then topped with thinly sliced red onion and Provolone cheese. What a finale! Excellent.
Want me to tell you who won? Sure, but first, I should say we each received a ballot and were asked to write down our three favorite sandwiches. A description of each sandwich was given again to help us decide on our favorites. Judge Tom collected the ballots and retired to the “counting room” with his assistants (2 grandchildren). After a while they returned with the results of the balloting.
From Raleigh, Ann and Bruce Wilkinson, my sister and brother-in-law, made a sandwich that came from an idea suggested by a cousin in Dublin, Ohio. They prepared a Bacon Cheddar Cheese on Jalapeno Sour Dough. Right in the middle of the sandwich was a layer of Macaroni and Cheese! After receiving some grief and teasing from the other contestants, namely Chuck, the sandwich drew applause. It was wonderful! It was given the name “Cousin Sarah’s Grilled Cheese” In Chuck's own words..."Uncle Bruce, that is pretty damn good!"
The 2nd sandwich was prepared by my niece, Courtney. Named the “St Louis Special”, she used an excellent Rosemary Olive Oil Bread, Smoked Provolone Cheese and fresh Roma Tomato slices. The simplicity was wonderful!
The 3rd sandwich was my daughter-in-law Michelle’s creation called “la Provence”. She started her sandwich by marinating fresh goat cheese in a local honey infused with lavender flowers. It was tucked inside two
slices of a multi-grain bread then grilled…and was absolutely delicious!“Betsy’s Bitchin’ Grilled Cheese” was a hot and spicy sandwich, prepared on a Jalapeno Focaccia, The flat round loaf was split horizontally, then stuffed with Mexican Queso and Gouda cheeses, then topped with Pico de Gallo. Grilling the whole round loaf created a rich crispy crust!
Betsy’s husband, Ben, (my son-in-law) decided to enter his own creation, and it was a big hit! “il Bastardo” started with Cheddar Cheese Bread, layered with Oceola Cheese company’s Oceola Melting Cheese with sautéed red and green bell peppers and onion, and fresh cilantro. Both Betsy’s and Ben’s sandwiches were served with a side of Pico de Gallo and Guacamole!
My sandwich, “the International”, was the next to hit the griddle. I started with Challah, a Jewish bread , then built the sandwich by layering Gouda cheese from Holland, caramelized Italian cipollini (onions), thinly sliced American Heirloom Tomatoes, and fresh Basil (Overland Park, Kansas!). It was actually too thick to heat through and difficult to turn over on the griddle, but it did have a great flavor.
My niece, Ashli, was next with her “Stanley Special”. Ashli said she changed her mind 4 times during the day, trying to decide which of her creative sandwiches she would prepare for us. The Stanley Special was an excellent choice! Large slices of perfect sourdough bread were covered with slices of smoky chipotle cheese…just that simple, and simply marvelous!
Note: by this point in our evening, everyone was feeling really stuffed and we had two more sandwiches to go! We all understood the importance of the contest and decided to hang in there and continue on with the challenge. Dedication!
Next up were Cindy and Dennis, my daughter and son-in-law. They chose to prepare a “Rosemary Focaccia Robusto”. The combination of the Rosemary bread, the Italian Robusto cheese and the grilled red bell pepper strips thrilled everyone.
Last, but certainly not least, my sister-in-law, Vicki, prepared “The Kiki”. She started with a delicious dark and robust Pumpernickel bread, spread with Honey Dijon mustard, then topped with thinly sliced red onion and Provolone cheese. What a finale! Excellent.
Want me to tell you who won? Sure, but first, I should say we each received a ballot and were asked to write down our three favorite sandwiches. A description of each sandwich was given again to help us decide on our favorites. Judge Tom collected the ballots and retired to the “counting room” with his assistants (2 grandchildren). After a while they returned with the results of the balloting.
Announced by Alton of St Louis, the winner was
Michelle Campbell with her “la Provence”!
The lavender honey marinated goat cheese was simply spectacular! Congratulations, Michelle!
I know that all of the contestants will spend some time tomorrow trying to think of a way to top this year’s grilled cheese sandwiches! There will be 12 months of testing, 12 months of eating all of the trial sandwiches!
By the way, a total of 9 sticks of butter were used to grill our sandwiches! That is 2.25 pounds of butter! Luckily, we had 2 salads with our sandwiches, but then we turned right around and ate a cherry pie and a French Silk pie!
I know that all of the contestants will spend some time tomorrow trying to think of a way to top this year’s grilled cheese sandwiches! There will be 12 months of testing, 12 months of eating all of the trial sandwiches!
By the way, a total of 9 sticks of butter were used to grill our sandwiches! That is 2.25 pounds of butter! Luckily, we had 2 salads with our sandwiches, but then we turned right around and ate a cherry pie and a French Silk pie!
I’m not going to step on the scales for at least a week!
No comments:
Post a Comment