Best Toasted Cheese. Ever.

Alright, guys. After the last post on differences in food, I thought I'd show you what I meant. So today I'm going to share a secret sandwich that came to life in my kitchen almost a week ago, and I've been eating it ever since. It is the best toasted cheese I've ever tasted. And what's silly is that the ingredients are so easy, but everything is in how it's cooked (which is also stunningly simple). Alright, ready for a photo? Try not to lick the screen...

Resisting the urge to run to the kitchen now...

Seems simple, right? Because it is! It's just two slices of sandwich bread, two slices of emmental cheese (usually sold for croque monsieur), and mayonnaise. That's right, the secret ingredient is mayo! We were running low on butter, so I stole a trick from Paula Deen. Just spread a little bit of mayo on each slice, on the outside of the sandwich, and pan fry as usual. It's actually harder to burn, I've discovered, has a better crunch and crisp, and adds a lot of flavor to the sandwich.

The gooey center is just as good as the crunchy outside.

How does it work? Well, mayonnaise is essentially oil and vinegar whipped together with egg yolks, so when you put it in the pan, the vinegar and flavor melts into the bread, the egg yolk gives it a beautiful golden crunch, and the oil keeps the bread from sticking and browns the egg yolk. Now, I usually am the first to walk past the mayo in a supermarket, but here, the mayo is much different and very flavorful. It's because they use olive oil, fresh egg yolks, and several different kinds of vinegar, not to mention the dash of mustard, onion, and garlic. Here I've actually been known to ask for the mayo instead of ketchup, and even buy it for myself in the store.

Another condiment I've gotten adjusted to is hot sauce. My apartment-mate is Mexican, and she was left a little less that satisfied by the French cuisine's lack of spice. So she went on the hunt for hot sauce, and found one from Chinatown that is quite delicious. Delicious enough, in fact, it may have replaced Chipotle Tobasco sauce as my favorite. It goes especially well with this sandwich.

Serving suggestion

In other news, I've been working on getting my doodles into the computer, but without a scanner, it's been tough. I've also been looking for time to get out and get some good photos. Next week I'm planning an entire day for the Louvre, so expect plenty of photos from that.

I'm also working on another post from the What I've Realized series on public transportation. Look for it soon. Until then, I'll leave you with another picture of this amazing sandwich, and I'm going to head back to the kitchen.

Delicious.