Hog Island Grilled Cheese

Want to give your grilled cheese a college education? Try this recipe. We really liked the flavors of the cheeses I chose (a good Swiss, sharp cheddar, and Havarti) on the sourdough bread. I omitted the fromage blanc because I couldn’t find it in our local market.

I’ve never grilled a sandwich with the cover on the pan, but I was pleased to find that the bread didn’t become soggy. Flattening the Hog Island grilled cheese with a spatula is the way my mom always made grilled cheese for us, so I was thrilled to see the technique used in this recipe.

Sometimes, all you need in life is a good grilled cheese sandwich—and this one is it. My favorite part of the recipe is the direction to let it sit before serving. It was the first time I didn’t burn my mouth because I was so excited to eat.

The nonstick pan is very important. I made the sandwich again in my favorite skillet, and it just wasn’t the same. The bread stuck to it, and the cheese oozing out didn’t develop into a golden crisp. Also, the built-up steam from covering the skillet helps melt the cheese nicely. One word of warning, though: my husband complained of palate fatigue about three-quarters of the way through his sandwich. Adding in a sweeter or creamier cheese, or maybe a less tangy bread may be the solution.

I couldn’t have tested this recipe on a better night—at the end of a particularly busy workweek, after a long drive (crawl) home in several inches of snow. Armed with a digital scale and a timer, in no time a perfect, hot meal was ready. This sandwich still has the familiar gooey doneness of the classic, but with a higher level of gratification. The Hog Island Grilled Cheese is warm and oozy inside, but golden brown and crusty on the outside. Take it to your couch, put your feet up, and eat it with your hands while watching TV.

My husband and I live in San Francisco and share a birthday week, so every year, we go all-out at Hog Island Oysters, ordering their oysters, salad, soup, and grilled cheese. The first bites evoked big smiles from all of us. The cheese blend paired with the hearty bread make it a unique grilled cheese, one that’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who loves cheese. And if you’re lucky enough to live in or visit San Francisco, make sure you head over to the Ferry Building to check out the real thing.

This sandwich is awesome, as long as you keep the heat on low and watch carefully for burning. I used a loaf of pain au levain, and needed a bit more butter to coat each slice of bread than what the recipe called for. The recipe also calls for a lot of cheese, so you definitely have to pat it down so it sticks together.

This is a delicious sandwich. It’s no wonder that people line up to buy it. Highly recommended!

I used equal amounts of cheddar, Gruyère, and a mild provolone, and I found that grating the cheeses allowed them to melt perfectly. I also was fortunate to have a freshly baked loaf of country bread. Covering the sandwich for a part of the cooking time facilitated the melting of the cheeses, and by turning the sandwich over a couple of times, the bread remained crisp.

You do need to watch the heat and progress of the browning, however, especially while the sandwich is covered—for each turn, I needed a minute or two less than what was specified in the recipe. Overall, this sandwich is worth the time it takes to prep.

I love the simplicity of this recipe. It’s perfect for an evening in which you don’t have much time to prepare dinner for the family. Both my husband I liked that it was smooth, creamy, and filling. Covering the sandwiches while cooking didn’t make the bread soggy whatsoever.

If you want a serious grilled cheese, this is it, as this recipe definitely doesn’t skimp on the cheese. The fresh sourdough worked really well, as you need a hearty piece of bread to hold all the cheese.

I sliced my bread a little thicker than 1/4-inch. I used a cast-iron skillet, which gave the sandwich a nice crispy crust, even when covered with a lid. I served this dish with sliced tomatoes and edamame drizzled with oil and balsamic vinegar. If you didn’t want to eat this as a whole meal, you could cut the sandwich into finger-sized slices, and maybe top it with a tomato puree. Overall, this recipe was so easy to make. If you have a kitchen scale, use it to measure the amount of cheese per sandwich.

It was worth the extra effort to grate the different cheeses! I also used the St. George cheese, replicating the sandwich made at the Hog Island Oyster Bar, but if that’s not available, the Gruyère, Cheddar, and havarti combination works well.

This is the kind of fat and heavy food we don’t eat much of at home anymore—we even gave away our toaster to avoid temptation. But on a rainy cold night, I prepared this for the family, serving it with a large mixed salad (to clean my conscience). We all liked it too much.

I used Cheddar, Gruyère, and Bulgarian Kashkaval cheese between slices of sourdough rye bread with caraway seeds. The bread slices were about 1 centimeter thick, which was too thin for this kind of cooking and this amount of cheese, so next time we’ll try it with thicker slices.