The Brick’s the Trick - Recipe by Michael Davidson

Hello America!

The next stop on our culinary tour of Grilled Cheese Invitational categories brings us to the “Missionary” category.  Like the “Love, American Style” category, a Missionary can only contain bread, butter and cheese, but ANY type of bread, butter or cheese.  It just can’t contain additional ingredients like bacon or a wristwatch.

For our winning example of a Missionary, we have Michael Davidson’s infamous “The Brick’s The Trick” sandwich, which ingeniously combines bread, butter and cheese with construction materials to achieve victory.

Michael first won the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Grilled Cheese Invitational in 2009 and then went on to win the 2009 National Grilled Cheese Invitational. He has since gone on to win 2nd place in last year’s event and he’s always looking forward to pleasing people with award winning grilled cheese.

When asked about his unorthodox cooking technique he said,“Using the brick definitely gives them more of a pressed look, guaranteed cooking throughout the sandwich and some cheese, mozzarella mostly, oozing out and getting burned in the process, adding another layer of flavor.That and it’s recession-proof (they are in your backyard) and Ronco-esque (just set it and forget it!).”

The Brick’s the Trick Recipe
by Michael Davidson

Ingredients:

2 Slices of Acme Bread Pain Au Levain (or a great quality local Sourdough bread)
2 Slices of Tillamook Sharp Cheddar
2 Slices of Aged 3-year Cheddar
6 Thin Slices of Fresh Cow’s Milk Mozzarella
2 Tbs. Spring Hill Farm’s European Style Salted Butter
1 Tin-Foiled Wrapped Brick (Heat-treated and freshly wrapped)
Instructions:

Slice the bread pretty thick (between 1-1.5 inches) as it ends up getting pressed down a lot while cooking.

Cut the cheddar cheeses into about quarter inch pieces and thin slices of mozzarella. 

When filling the sandwich, sandwich the layers of mozzarella on the outside and the cheddar in between them, about 6 pieces of mozzarella (3 on each side of bread) and 2-3 pieces of each of the cheddars (depending on thickness and size). 

The Brick’s the Trick - Recipe by Michael Davidson

Add a tablespoon of butter to a pan on a medium to medium-low heat. 

The Brick’s the Trick - Recipe by Michael Davidson

Once melted, place the sandwich in the pan and move the sandwich around inside the pan, collecting up all the butter.

The Brick’s the Trick - Recipe by Michael Davidson

Place the brick on top of the sandwich and let cook for around 4-5 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure it’s cooking evenly.

The Brick’s the Trick - Recipe by Michael Davidson

Remove the sandwich from the pan and add an additional tablespoon of butter, repeating the butter absorption process with the other side of the sandwich.

Place the brick on top and let cook for an additional 4-5 minutes.

After this you should be left with a golden brown, slightly oozing, very satisfying sandwich that on average gets about 1 to 2 “This is the best grilled cheese I have ever had” comments per event. 

When completed, unwrap brick and return it to your patio.

-Blog written by Tim Walker, Founder and Chief Instigator of the Grilled Cheese Invitational

By Tim

Photo by Tim Walker

Since starting the Grilled Cheese Invitationalback in 2003, as the Founder and Chief Instigator I’ve seen every sort of grilled cheese sandwich and am always impressed with the creativity and deliciousness that a champion grilled cheese can bring to the table. 

From humble beginnings as a cooking contest amongst friends to a national phenomenon with over 250 competitors and an army of grilled cheese lovers 10,000 strong, the Grilled Cheese Invitational is the perfect venue for everyday folks to put their signature twist on this staple sandwich.

For this year’s National Grilled Cheese month, I’m offering up some great examples of award winning grilled cheese in the four categories of competition. Look for them each Thursday on the Tillamook Loaf Life blog.

The first recipe is one for our new-for-2011 category: Love, American Style. As with all noble human pursuits, a perfect grilled cheese must first begin with love.

The Love category is for the classic American grilled cheese:  White bread, orange cheese and butter.  No other cheeses, colors or ingredients.  Since a competitor is only going to win this category with grilling style, it’s important to make your sandwich stand out.

We haven’t had an official winner in this category yet so I’m offering my take on a Love, American Style sandwich called “The Love Moat.”

Slightly sweet and soft, potato bread contrasts well with a nice sharp cheddar and is the perfect vehicle to absorb butter.  The bread browns nicely and provides a crisp but not too rugged crust and stays soft on the inside…for the win!

Instructions:
1. Assemble the sandwich, distributing the cheese evenly on the bread.

Photo by Tim Walker

2. Add one tablespoon of butter to a skillet on low-medium heat.  Let the butter melt evenly and then place the sandwich in the pan.  Cook for 3-5 minutes.

Photo by Tim Walker

3. Here’s my secret: In order to grill the other side, take the sandwich out of the pan and remove the pan from the heat, letting the pan cool down a little before putting the second tablespoon of butter in the pan.  This’ll keep the butter from scorching. 

Photo by Tim Walker

4. Return the pan to the heat, add the butter and melt like in step 2, then place the sandwich back in to grill the other side for another 3-5 minutes, until you have a nice and even brown.  Remove the sandwich from the pan.

5. Here’s the win: Cut the sandwich in half and before you serve it, hold the halves above the plate and let some of the melted cheese ooze out of the sandwich so that it pools a little on the plate to create a molten, cheesy moat of cheddar!

Photo by Tim Walker

Photo by Tim Walker

Photo by Tim Walker

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Tim Walker, founder of the Grilled Cheese Invitational

By Tim