American cheese

Homemade American Cheese Recipe
recipes

DIY American Cheese

We've got a new partnership with the recipe, equipment, and product testing gurus at America's Test Kitchen.
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We've got a new partnership with the recipe, equipment, and product testing gurus at America's Test Kitchen. They'll be sharing some of their time-tested recipes and technical expertise with us weekly. Today, recipe developer and grilled cheese queen Yvonne Ruperti shows us how to make DIY American cheese; consider it an ooey, gooey, cheesy paean to the grilled cheese sandwich.

I'm not afraid to admit that I love American cheese (yes, like Kraft Singles) by itself, on a grilled cheese sandwich, on a cheeseburger, or even just slapped onto a plate until it's nice and gooey (a childhood pleasure that I never outgrew).

But what exactly is American cheese? I have to think it's the answer to that exact question that's given the stuff such a bad rap. The American cheese you find in the supermarket refrigerator case isn't cheese made in the traditional way (milk that's formed into curds and pressed). Instead, it's either a blend of cheese and additives, or it's a highly processed mixture of ingredients such as water, milk, milk fat, protein, whey, food coloring, flavorings, and emulsifiers. The result is a processed cheese with a mild flavor that melts incredibly well. I wanted to get as close as possible to the taste and texture of American cheese using only pantry ingredients and a food processor. A little tinkering proved I didn't need much; the key was quickly melting together a mix of milk, cheese, and a few other ingredients (including plenty of salt), then giving it a chance to set up with the help of a little gelatin.

By making your own American cheese, you will know exactly what went into it, and you can also include add-ins such as black pepper, roasted red peppers . . . you name it. As I concocted my version of American cheese in the test kitchen, not only did I draw a crowd of curious onlookers, I caused all of the snooty foodies to run for the hills. But that's okay with me; they can keep their Époisses and Robiola — I'm completely content eating my perfectly melty, toasted grilled cheese with American cheese any day of the week.

Keep reading for the recipe.

American Version of Vacherin Mont d'Or
In Season

Harbison Cheese: A Domestic Alternative to Vacherin Mont d'Or

All Winter long, I've been on a relentless hunt for Vacherin Mont d'Or, the oozy, ripe cheese that's made from the Winter milk of Swiss Gruyère cows.
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All Winter long, I've been on a relentless hunt for Vacherin Mont d'Or, the oozy, ripe cheese that's made from the Winter milk of Swiss Gruyère cows. But it soon became clear to me that it wouldn't be so easy to track down a version of the alpine cheese in tip-top shape; when I asked cheese fanatics for advice over Twitter, many of them urged me to try American alternatives.

A quick trip to San Francisco's Cowgirl Creamery cheese shop led me to Harbison, a similar cheese produced by Cellars at Jasper Hill, a creamery based in idyllic Greensboro, VT. Much like Vacherin, Harbison is a wintertime-only cheese with a blooming rind and an extremely soft center; like its French counterpart, Harbison is also meant to be eaten by slicing off the top rind of the cheese wheel, then dipping in with crackers, bread, and other accoutrements.For the holidays, I went with another traditional Vacherin preparation by dotting my Harbison with garlic cloves, adding a couple of glugs of dry white wine, and then baking the cheese until runny. I served it with squares of salami and tiny gherkins for dipping, and the experience was not unlike that of an Alpine raclette. Who knew such a French experience could be replicated with American cheese?

Yummy Links: From Burgers to American Cheese
Link Time

Yummy Links: From Burgers to American Cheese

  • If you love burgers, you'll enjoy this guide to hamburger and cheeseburger styles.
by partysugar

  • If you love burgers, you'll enjoy this guide to hamburger and cheeseburger styles. — A Hamburger Today
  • Whose side are you on? 10 recent food feuds. — Chow
  • Would you give your daughter Duff Goldman's Girl Gourmet Cake Bakery set? — Eat Me Daily
  • Use late harvest tomatoes to make a stunning herbed tart. — Saveur
  • David Chang's famed eatery, Momofuku Ko, has raised its prices, again. — Eater
  • What does a food critic do after retiring? He eats roast chicken. — The Atlantic
  • Is lamb the new pork? — Grub Street
  • An ode to American cheese.— Gourmet

Source: Flickr User fj40troutbum

Kraft's New Kraft Singles Campaign
News

Kraft's Orange Slices Get Singled Out

You may be impossibly in love with ricotta, feta, and manchego, but Kraft Foods is hoping you'll give its signature orange slices another chance.
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You may be impossibly in love with ricotta, feta, and manchego, but Kraft Foods is hoping you'll give its signature orange slices another chance. According to Advertising Age, the food company has begun a major push for Kraft Singles, its synthetic-cheese line of American, Swiss, and Cheddar cheese slices. Although the brand's natural cheese sales have declined amid the recession, processed cheeses such as Velveeta and Kraft Singles have helped to lift the segment's sluggish sales numbers. As a result, Kraft will continue to focus on marketing its Singles products with a grassroots promotion.

For its National Grilled Cheese Month Sweepstakes, Kraft has launched an ad hoc website that encourages consumers to write short essays about why they love Kraft Singles, so they can be entered into a weekly drawing for free packages of Kraft Singles.

Kraft is also backing the Seventh Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational. Organizers of the world's largest grilled cheese competition, which takes place in Los Angeles later this month, expect to turn out 5,000 grilled cheese sandwiches.

I don't know about you, but I've always felt that tough times foster cravings for less than wholesome yet insanely delicious childhood favorites. Kraft Singles have a particularly special place in my heart, so there's no doubt that within the next thirty seconds I will be professing my love for them on IHeartGrilledCheese.com. How do you feel about Kraft Singles? Do you think this promotion will catch on?

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Would You Eat This Jucy Lucy Hamburger?
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Would You Eat This Jucy Lucy Hamburger?

Recently our very own Nancita made a culinary pilgrimage to Minneapolis.
by partysugar

Recently our very own Nancita made a culinary pilgrimage to Minneapolis. She went on a quest for one of the nation's most infamous hamburgers, the Jucy Lucy. Created at a small, no-nonsense eatery, Matt's Bar, the Jucy Lucy is a hamburger with a molten cheese core. From the outside the burger looks like any old burger, but following the first bite, a stream of gushing, melted American cheese makes this burger far from ordinary. After seeing her pictures, I'm eager to make my own Jucy Lucy journey. How about you?