Episode 26
Your Next Party Needs a Grilled Cheese Bar
A random phone call at the cheese shop gave me an idea I haven't stopped thinking about: a grilled cheese bar.
In this episode, we're turning grilled cheese into a full-blown party—with three starting-point sandwiches, toppings designed to mix and match, a little cheese education (obviously), and a game plan that doesn't leave you standing over the stove making sandwiches for everyone all night.
We're building with:
🧀 The Classic, But Better: New School American cheese + bacon + tomato
🧅 French Onion-ish: Challerhocker, Gruyère or Comté + caramelized onions + beer mustard
🥂 The Fancy One: Camembert-style cheese + something sweet + jamón or prosciutto + arugula
Plus: why American cheese deserves another look, the difference between Gruyère and Comté, why traditional raw-milk Camembert isn't coming home from the grocery store with you in the U.S., how much cheese to buy per person, and the ridiculously simple trick that turns the whole thing into an actual grilled cheese tasting.
The real rule? Ignore the rules. Steal the bacon from one sandwich, put the caramelized onions on another, pair the fancy cheese with whatever you want and figure out what tastes good to you.
Because cheese is here to make the party better—not make you nervous about throwing one.
References / Show Notes
Cheeses mentioned:
New School American Cheese — Find Us — the locator you specifically promise to put in the show notes. New School describes its cheese as aged cheddar blended with cream, butter and other ingredients for its characteristic melt.
Challerhocker — your first-choice Alpine-style option
Gruyère AOP — Swiss raw cow's milk cheese
Comté AOC — French raw cow's milk cheese from the Jura
Nettle Meadow Farm — Camembear — their Adirondack take on Camembert; Nettle Meadow describes Camembear as a double-crème bloomy-rind cheese.
Murray's Cave Aged Reserve Camembertha — made by Four Fat Fowl and aged by Murray's in its Bloomy Rind Cave.
Sequatchie Cove Creamery — Walden — the Tennessee creamery specifically suggests Walden as a substitute for Brie; its origins trace back to cheesemaker Nathan Arnold's work with Reblochon-style cheese.
Curd is the Word episodes mentioned:
