Get a free Loaf Love Tour mini bus in San Francisco next Monday!

On Monday, May 16, our Loaf Love Tour rolls into Northern California! We’re kicking things off in NorCal with a “Day of Loaf” in San Francisco. We’ll spend the day exploring the city by driving around in our cute little Baby Loaf buses and taking photos. We’ll also drop by to say “hi” to our favorite San Francisco chef, Heidi Gibson of The AMERICAN Grilled Cheese Kitchen.

Between 11am – 1pm, the Loaf Love Tour will be hanging out at The AMERICAN and we’ll be giving away free Loaf Love Tour mini buses to Tillamook Cheese fans while we’re there! How do you get your mini bus, you ask? Well, we’re not telling… at least not yet! Tune into our Facebook page and Twitter next Monday morning and we’ll tell you what to do to get your very own mini bus.

Hope to see you at The AMERICAN Grilled Cheese Kitchen next Monday, May 16!

By Loafy

The Jalapeno Popper Sandwich

As the countdown to the Grilled Cheese Invitational (GCI) continues, I bring you this week’s featured grilled cheese: The Jalapeno Popper Sandwich by Chef Heidi Gibson, owner of San Francisco’s The AMERICAN Grilled Cheese Kitchen and seven-time National Grilled Cheese Invitational award winner. Heidi hasn’t competed with this particular sandwich at the GCI, but it would be a tasty contender in the Kama Sutra category. Sandwiches that compete in this category must be “of the savory nature, with any type of bread, butter, and cheese PLUS additional ingredients.” 

The Jalapeno Popper Sandwich is both spicy and sweet at the same time. Mild and creamy Tillamook Monterey Jack (recently voted “America’s Best“!) and chevre cheese are melted over crisp, smoky bacon and apricot-jalapeno relish. If you don’t live in San Francisco and can’t head to Heidi’s restaurant, then try making it at home: 

The Jalapeno Popper Sandwich by Heidi Gibson of The AMERICAN Grilled Cheese Kitchen
 
Ingredients:
 
For Each Sandwich
4 teaspoons (¾ oz) Tillamook® Salted Butter at room temperature
8 slices high-quality artisan bread, like a levain, sliced about ½ inch thick
¼ cup (2 oz) fresh chevre (goat cheese)
½ cup (4 oz) Apricot-Jalapeno Relish
8 pieces cooked bacon
8 slices Tillamook® Monterey Jack Cheese (also try Tillamook® Reduced Fat Monterey Jack)
 
For the Apricot-Jalapeno Relish (makes enough for about 8 sandwiches)
8 oz dried California apricots (or Blenheim), chopped
6 tablespoons (3 oz) white onions, diced
4 jalapeno peppers (stems and seeds removed), minced
2 serrano peppers, cleaned and minced
½ habanero pepper (optional – only if you really like spice!)
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (about ½ a lime’s worth)
½ tablespoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated (Chef tip: store fresh ginger in the freezer. You can also substitute with dried ground ginger)
1 ½  tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
 
Preparation:
 
Make the Relish
Mix all ingredients for the Apricot-Jalapeno relish together thoroughly, then cover and refrigerate for at least one hour, preferably overnight.
 
Assemble the Sandwich
Spread butter on one side of 2 slices of bread. Lay bread buttered side down on a cutting board. Spread chevre (which can be softened by heating it briefly in the microwave) evenly over 1 slice. Spread Apricot-Jalapeno relish evenly on top of chevre.  Place bacon on relish, then top sandwich with cheese slices. Sandwiches can be cooked open face on a pre-heated cast iron pan in a 500°F oven, then closed and served. Or they can be closed, then cooked in a pan on a stovetop over medium-low heat until bread is toasted and cheese is melted.

By Loafy

The Roast Dip Sandwich by Heidi Gibson of The AMERICAN Grilled Cheese Kitchen

Making a good grilled cheese is truly an art form. Sure, almost anyone can whip together a basic bread-butter-cheese sammich with a panini press. But to make a truly ooey-gooey, magically melty grilled cheese? Now that’s something you learn from the masters of melting.

Have you taken some time to explore the Tillamook Kitchen? It features a collection of awesome recipes by our partner chefs: Heidi Gibson of The AMERICAN Grilled Cheese Kitchen, Dave Danhi of the Grilled Cheese Truck, and Tommy Habetz of Bunk Sandwiches. The Tillamook Kitchen is packed full of amazing little tips and tricks from these pros. I love watching the video recipes – they’ll have you saying to yourself “Huh, I never would have thought of that!”

In honor of National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day, here are some tips and tricks I learned from our partner chefs that will help you make an amazing chef-quality grilled cheese:

- Mayonnaise helps prevent burning. Before grilling his sandwiches, Dave Danhi spreads a 50/50 mix of mayo and butter on the outside of both slices of bread. Dave says this mayo-butter mix helps keep the bread from burning and will give sandwiches like his Pepperbelly Melt that perfect golden-brown crispiness.

- Butter can be more than butter! To sneak more flavor into the Piglet Sandwich, Heidi Gibson mixes rosemary with butter. Another tip: to mince up the rosemary, she uses a standard coffee grinder.

- Cook evenly. To make sure his sandwiches are fully-cooked, Tommy Habetz starts them off on a griddle (or press), then opens them up and places them in a 450°F oven for about 1 minute.

- Get creative! What ingredients sound good to you? Can some of your favorite meals be transformed into a grilled cheese? There are so many ingredient combos that will blend beautifully in a grilled cheese sandwich. Our partner chefs aren’t afraid to try new and inventive grilled cheeses. Their ingenuity, along with their skills, make them grilled cheese masters!

Do you have any tips for making the ultimate grilled cheese?

By Tara

Heidi preparing to shoot a recipe video for Tillamook.com

I’ve been hearing about Heidi Gibson for a long time now… Grilled Cheese Invitational ringer with loads of tasty trophies, tech professional who gave it all up to open a restaurant dedicated to grilled cheese. She even has a dog named Tilly that she rescued after finding her wandering the streets! These are the stories that passionate heroes are made of.  So it was my sincere pleasure to go behind the scenes on the video recipe shoot Heidi created with Tillamook.

Heidi in the kitchen at The AMERICAN Grilled Cheese Kitchen

First of all, we had her restaurant, The AMERICAN Grilled Cheese Kitchen, all to ourselves on a Sunday morning. You should have smelled the delicious onions caramelizing, cheese melting, and strata baking. It was amazing. I’ve also never eaten so much grilled cheese in my life (we photographed tons of sandwiches and we HAD to taste everything after all!). YUM.

Our spread of yummy sandwiches - all amazing!

I also loved talking to Heidi in between shoots. I could have talked her ear off, but one thing that really stuck with me was how well she knew each of the food items she used in her sandwiches. Each ingredient in her recipes came from a carefully chosen partner who shares her values around food and sustainable business – from her bread to her meat to her beverages.  Here at Tillamook, we feel truly honored to be counted amongst her partners.  Thanks, Heidi! We think you’re whey cool!

Heidi's Grilled Cheese Invitational awards

By Gillian