My wife doesn't consider herself a sandwich person. I practically grew up in my grandfather's sandwich shop. I guess opposites attract.
I don't know that I've ever met a person that doesn't love bread, so adding other ingredients you love just seems natural. As a child, that meant honey ham and margarine between pressed Cuban bread or a classic PB&J on white. This evolved into a love for fried chicken sandwiches and loaded BBQ burgers. Nowadays, my perception of a sandwich has expanded even further: spicy falafel pitas, fried green tomato BLTs, lamb gyros, Indian spiced sloppy joes... and I am 100% a believer that a hotdog is in fact a sandwich. Fight me on this and you'll lose.
Founding Fathers here in Philly used to make this insanely messy cheese sandwich. It's been a while since it was on the menu, so forgive me for forgetting the details, but what I do remember is that is was essentially a club sandwich, but in place of a deli meat like ham or turkey, the primary ingredient was molten cheese. I remember thinking how wrong this sandwich felt -- it was the love child of a grilled cheese and a BLT, yet it didn't quite fit in with the other meat-forward sandwiches on the menu. This sandwich was rebellious, choosing not to conform to what a sandwich should be, but rather what it wanted to be. And who could deny a sandwich that speaks its mind? This sandwich said, "Eat me. I dare you. You love cheese. You love bacon and roughage. Manners don't matter. Rules don't matter. Napkins don't matter. Let's get greasy." This sandwich was a pompadour and leather jacket shy of being Kenickie.
This cheesy club sandwich is my riff on what I remember from that now forgotten sandwich. The key difference here is that the original included a fried egg suspended smack in the middle that miraculously remained in tact even after being flipped on a griddle. Frankly, I did not include one because I was nervous about the yolk breaking for the photo -- in all honesty, the runny yolk is what truly made the sandwich at Founding Fathers special. It added to the mess. The richness of the yolk elevated the already rich cheese by two tax brackets. One day I'll add the egg and report back, but if you feel inclined to try it yourself, tag me on Instagram @cjceleiro and let me know how it goes!
The last thing I'll say is that this is a sandwich that you assemble in the pan, so you have to work kind of quickly so your bread doesn't burn. I took step-by-step pictures of the assembly process for those of you who are visual learners. The most important thing is that the cheese is on the outside, and that the cheddar is the cheese touching the bread since it needs more direct heat to help with with melting, where as muenster melts much easier.
With reckless abandon and gooey cheese,
~c.j.
CHEESY CLUB SANDWICH
COOK TIME: 15-20 minutes
YIELD: 1 sandwich
INGREDIENTS
2 slices thick cut bacon
2 slices of your favorite sandwich bread (I prefer brioche)
2 tbsp plain mayonnaise
2 tbsp chipotle aioli or any other preferred condiment
2 slices sharp cheddar cheese
2 slices muenster cheese
mixed greens or lettuce
1 slice tomato
salt and pepper
1/2 avocado, sliced (optional)
DIRECTIONS
Place bacon in a medium skillet and cook over medium heat, flipping halfway through, until fully cooked and crispy, 8-10 minutes. Remove from pan, reserve most of the bacon fat in a small bowl or jar, leaving a thin layer of fat for frying the sandwich.
Meanwhile, spread one slice of bread with 1 tbsp of plain mayo, going form edge to edge. Once bacon is out of the skillet, place bread mayo side down in the skillet, set a 4 minute timer, then begin layering: 1 tbsp chipotle aioli, 1 slice cheddar, 1 slice muenster, mixed greens, tomato, a sprinkling of salt and pepper, reserved bacon, avocado if using, the other slice of muenster, and the other slice of cheddar. Spread chipotle mayo on other slice of bread, then place the chipotle mayo side down onto the sandwich. Spread the remaining 1 tbsp plain mayo on the top of the sandwich, going from edge to edge.
Allow sandwich to fry until underside is a golden color and your timer goes off. Flip the sandwich, then add some of the reserved bacon fat, and let sandwich fry an additional 2-3 minutes until bread is golden on the other side and cheese is melted. Serve with grapes for health I guess and enjoy!
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