Inside-Out Grilled Cheese

The spring 2013 issue of Culture Magazine: The Word on Cheese has one seriously confused-looking grilled cheese on its cover. What happened? Grilled cheese may be one of the world's simplest sandwiches, and the food stylist put the cheese in the wrong place — on the outside of the bread. Of course, I kid. The feature recipe, for the "Inside-Out Grilled Cheese" from Edzo’s Burger Shop in Chicago, could barely be more brilliant. Grilled cheese: with twice the cheese. That said, I found the suggestion to use American cheese a bit, well, insulting — call me a cheese snob — and accordingly created my own rendition. The inside: slivers of green tomato sandwiched between slices of white Cheddar. And the outside: a generous smear of butter, plus an even more generous sprinkling of grated Gruyère. The extra cheese turns into a delightfully crispy crust, much like an Italian frico.  Click here to see 12 Jazzed-Up Grilled Cheese Sandwich Recipes for Grown-Ups (and Kids, Too).