There's truly nothing more simple, yet satisfying, than a toasted cheese sandwich, perfectly toasted to the point where the cheese melts and goes all stringy when you stretch it apart.
The fact that the tomato is hotter than the surface of the sun, is a price I'm willing to pay between my muttered thanks to the food Gods and the hushashash noises I make between steeming mouthfuls.
When I'm at home, I have a fancy "George Foreman" grill (which I have NEVER used for anything except toasted sandwiches). But up until now, at work, I've been stuck trying to juggle my sandwich between the toaster and the microwave, which leaves me with soggy bread and sadness. I'm probably also going to get fired for putting buttered toast into the toaster 🙈
So, I managed to convince @ZakLudick to let me take "his" snackwich maker to work, and today, I made the PERFECT triangle shaped, toasted cheese, ham and tomato sandwich.
This snackwich maker and I have had a few run-ins and I've always moaned that it's cheap and that's why everything sticks to it. Let me tell you my friends. I freaking figured it out.
So forget coating the bread with margerine, or butter or cooking oil or spraying the surface with spray and cook (because, my f*&#a@ that stuff is expensive).
The secret it turns out, is to build your sandwich as you like it (I do recommend adding a bit of salt, pepper and/ or Tabasco and squishing as much cheese as you can while still allowing for the snackwich maker to be locked closed) and then literally PATIENCE.
You actually don't need to put anything at all on the outside surface of the bread. The trick is to actually wait almost double the time that the "ready" light indicates, so that the bread is toasted sufficiently to not fall apart or stick when opening the snackwich maker.
You need to watch it though. Don't go take a nap. You don't want it to burn.
Here is the proof though. You can see previous war scares from me attempting to pry my sandwich from its grasp, especially when I have PMS munchies, no patience and access to sharp knives.
If you absolutely have to, you can use a wooden utensil as pictured below to gently loosen any part of the sandwich that may have stuck: which will most likely be cheese that has leaked out.
Before taking a bite, leave it alone for a few minutes after removing from the snackwich maker or else you will not be able to taste anything for the rest of the week.