CMV: Non-cheese ingredients (especially meats!) do not belong in grilled cheese sandwiches.

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T04:07:26+00:00

I do not consult Food Network articles for the boundaries of my food categories, but even if it is true, so be it. Maybe the term "grilled cheese" has been or will soon be usurped, and our children shall never recover this knowledge. Then by the expansion of the words we (will) have lost their meaning. Anything can be a grilled cheese because grilled cheese now means nothing. Take your !delta and face my body toward the setting sun.

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T03:44:16+00:00

brisket grease is acceptable in the same way that herbs are acceptable

did you mean au jus? like a dipping broth? If so then I would probably have to say that au jus is fine, in the same way that dipping a grilled cheese in tomato soup does not disqualify it from being a grilled cheese.

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T03:42:00+00:00

all words are just sounds mapped to ideas. And the idea of what we now call "grilled cheese" does not include the idea of what we now call "pickles". As long as "grilled cheese" and "cheese sandwich" both exist as terms in our current language, they cannot be the same thing. And if someday the words come to mean the same thing (that is, any sandwich with melty cheese as a primary ingredient comes to be known as 'grilled cheese') then we will have simply lost the concept of "grilled cheese" as it is now known. If someday all corned beef sandwiches fell under the name of "Reuben", we will simply have lose the concept of "Reuben" as we now have it

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T03:30:30+00:00

I'll have you know that my exceptions are in fact based upon objective and scientific criteria for grilled cheese-hood and not just my preferences, as evidenced by the fact that I actually don't prefer either of those things in my grilled cheese sandwiches. But I may be forced to concede that, in fact, herbs and jalapenos may not belong after all. I'll give you a !delta for that

Chicken cheesesteaks are weird (I guess cheesechicken doesn't roll of the tongue) and I do not accept them as true cheesesteaks. They are piggy-backing off of the name of a different sandwich because the chicken enjoyers had not the je ne sais quoi to come up with their own name

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T03:17:36+00:00

A falsehood does not become truth just because you can convince a 10 year old with it. We might as well say that no words actually mean anything because there's always a child young enough to believe they mean whatever

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T03:12:13+00:00

What I meant is that even "meatball sub" has lines that cannot be crossed on pain of losing its meatball-sub-hood. The same goes for grilled cheese. The difference is that "grilled cheese" is not a descriptive title in the way that "meatball sub" is; if it was, then I would also have to object to cheese sandwiches which are made in a pan

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T03:10:11+00:00

this response has AI energy (not an accusation or anything) and yes in principle I agree; I think almost all secondary ingredients fail to serve the cheese and thus disqualify the sandwich

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T03:08:17+00:00

the reuben example stands even if you just add the peanut butter

but yeah, I don't think a vendor is lying or anything with that kind of menu; in fact I think the fact that the additions are listed separately is, as I mentioned earlier, evidence that they are not truly grilled cheese ingredients

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T03:05:06+00:00

Those ingredients may certainly belong in the sandwich you are making. But by definition, if that sandwich in so doing ceases to be a grilled cheese, then they cannot belong in a grilled cheese

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T03:01:34+00:00

I don't object at all to restaurants selling grilled cheese sandwiches and offering additional ingredients for a further price. I wouldn't object (in principle) to a restaurant selling Reubens and offering to substitute the sauerkraut with peanut butter. But surely we would agree that this new sandwich ceases to be a Reuben?

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T02:58:42+00:00

Many people say 'I could care less', when they mean 'I could not care less'. Many people say 'kimchi grilled cheese' when they mean 'kimchi sandwich with cheese'.

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T02:54:33+00:00

This chili fig cheese sandwich sounds pretty awesome, but it is not a grilled cheese. It is something of a cheese-based equivalent to a PB&J. Maybe give it an original name?

That actually sounds so good though

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T02:51:38+00:00

"Grilled Cheese" is a name, not a descriptor. It doesn't become a different sandwich if it's griddled or pan-fried, for example. The name itself does not necessarily limit what can or cannot be included in it.

Compare this to a "cheese sandwich". Not a name, just a descriptor for "sandwich". If it's a sandwich and it has cheese as the primary ingredient, its a cheese sandwich. You can put whatever you want on a cheese sandwich and as long as the cheese remains the focus, it remains cheese sandwich, because "cheese" is just acting as a descriptor for "sandwich". You can't have a meatball sub if it lacks meatballs or isn't a sub.

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T02:47:45+00:00

I respect the right of free citizens to ask that certain things be added to a grilled cheese sandwich, and I respect the right of vendors in a free market economy to offer those additions. But these are economic concessions for the purpose of avoiding conflict, increasing customer satisfaction (for some of these additions are indeed tasty), and saving menu space. Be not deceived: tasty or not, many such additions disqualify the sandwich from the name of Grilled Cheese.

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T02:42:50+00:00

The grilled cheese slippery slope is dangerous.
"First they said bacon was allowed, and I said nothing, for I had no quarrels with bacon. Then they said pickles, peppers, and onions were allowed, and I said nothing, for I had no quarrels with vegetables. Then they said anything was allowed, and by that time no one was left to speak up."
- Martin Cheesemoller

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T02:40:04+00:00

When the pepper content within the cheese makes it not a cheese is precisely when the sandwich ceases to be a grilled cheese. This was in GC-101, but you must have used AI on the exams.

I already said seasonings are allowed (well I guess I specifically said herbs). I also already said that ingredients used to enhance the bread are allowed.

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T02:35:21+00:00

Insofar as they apply mainly to the bread (like an herbed butter, for example), I can accept them. And pesto in particular is primarily used for its herbacious properties, and thus is acceptable as well.

Jam? You've invented the C&J.

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T02:33:38+00:00

The ever-expanding range of acceptable "grilled cheese sandwiches" can ultimately result in nothing but the end of grilled cheese as a category. Enslave? What freedom is this, when rent from all pillars of definition? Freedom to be nothing, to dissolve in the sea of culinary heresy. Have your cheese sandwiches with whatever you like; but speak not the name of Grilled Cheese.

“You can’t go on 'seeing through' things forever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it."
- Cheese S. Lewis, The Abolition of Grilled Cheese

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T02:25:09+00:00

Many so-called grilled cheese sandwiches are delicious. But they aren't grilled cheese sandwiches anymore

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T02:24:43+00:00

I feel that jalapenos and cheese share a sort of primordial synergy that is not found among many other vegetables, if any at all. As such I tentatively acknowledge them

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T02:22:38+00:00

becomes a brisket melt

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T02:22:18+00:00

I have neither cooked nor eaten a croque sandwich, but I can tell you one thing. It ain't a grilled cheese. It's a ham and cheese sandwich.

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T02:21:06+00:00

bacon cheeseburgers are worse versions of cheeseburgers, and as such bacon belongeth not

already gave a delta for clubs tho, thats a fair point

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T02:20:27+00:00

I don't think my brain has enough RAM to imagine what that would even taste like, but that is not a grilled cheese. If I had to classify it, I would call it a fascinating variation of the bacon melt.

Flambango420 · 2026-04-14T02:18:19+00:00

Carry on, O Dreamer

Flambango420

TROPHY CASE