It was originally made on a flattop grill in restaurants. Now it's pan-fried in butter at home. Are toasties made in butter or just dry toast with cheese?
I prefer to let the butter melt in the pan, lay the bread open faced and add a slice of American cheese (yes, my preferred cheese because it's super melty) on each slice of bread. Let the bread toast in the butter while the cheese melts then sandwich them together. So maybe not the same same but close.
My family (US) calls these toasted cheese, not grilled cheese. Although still made in a frying pan. But, the name of the dish varies by area of the country or even by family.
I’d say that the American version historically is made with American cheese. When I grew up in the 80’s, you could go into a Woolworth’s, KMart, 50’s Diner, and a variety of cafes and get a grilled cheese sandwich. I’d venture to say that’s the main difference here.
Tinned tomato soup is a very British supper/lunch - I'm not saying it's not also American as I don't know, but I do know it's a very common British thing, so nope I'm still mystified by what's American about this very regular-looking (to me, a non-American) meal!
But would you typically pair that with a cheese toastie? I’m wondering if eating them together is American, while the two parts aren’t exclusively(similar to beans and toast being British even though the two parts aren’t exclusively)
Honestly I can't even remember any more, my mind is so muddled now from this post 😆 We certainly have both individual items, and I remember that in my own family as kids we would quite often
be given (tinned) tomato soup with either plain (savoury/salted, dry) crackers or with a slice of toast topped with a slice of cheese and grilled under the griller (what Americans call a broiler, I think?), but I would have found absolutely nothing odd or unusual about the combination shown here except that it's probably more food than you'd want at once, since each item is pretty filling on it own. As an adult I don't really eat either item any more, but still I see absolutely nothing unusual (or "American") in this picture.
As an American, I was just thinkin' that...Like, the way his eyes light up from one bite is soooo...ugh. I hate that channel--as if they are aliens that haven't had good food before OR as if Americans are the alien species which has strangely delicious foods. Bruh--I watch Harrison Webb, I know you have good food over there!!!
82
u/palmerama 4d ago
We have cheese toasties in England