Each year, National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day on April 12th recognizes one of the top comfort foods in the United States. Why wouldn’t it be when we’re talking about bread grilled to perfection, and warm, gooey, melted cheese.
- 1902 – One of the earliest references to melted cheese sandwiches is featured in Sarah Tyson Rorer’s “Mrs. Rorer’s New Cookbook.”
- 1910 – Many believe the grilled cheese sandwich was technically invented in France in 1910; the sandwich, known as the Croque Monsieur, is prepared with two slices of bread spread with Dijon Mustard, then topped with ham, Gruyere cheese and fried in butter.
- 1920s – Between the 1920s and the 1970s, the sandwich was called a “Cheese Dream“
- 1920s – The United States’ modern version of the grilled cheese sandwich originated in the 1920s. As sliced bread and American cheese became easily available, Americans began making open-faced grilled cheese sandwiches.
- 1927 – Otto Frederick Rohwedder invented the bread slicer that made distributing sliced bread more accessible and more affordable.
- 1939 – United States government cookbooks describe Navy cooks broiling “American cheese filling sandwiches” during World War II.
- 1940s – Sliced cheese wasn’t introduced until the late 1940s when Kraft Foods introduced Kraft singles.
- 1960s – The actual term “grilled cheese” doesn’t make an appearance in print until the 1960’s. Before then it was all “melted cheese” or “toasted cheese” sandwiches.
- 1993 – In the movie, the character of Sam, played by Johnny Depp, prepares a stack of grilled cheese sandwiches using a clothes iron.
- 2009 – Los Angeles hosted the world’s first grilled cheese cooking competition: thousands and thousands of people competed at and attended the National Grilled Cheese Invitational, which has turned into a much-anticipated annual food festival.
- Recipes for grilled cheeses have been mentioned in Ancient Roman texts, so the idea of grilled cheese goes back a long way.
- It is said that grilled cheese was first served as an open-face sandwich.
- Americans eat a whopping 2.2 billion grilled cheese sandwiches per year, according to the NDP Group Inc., a consumer research firm.
- The most “grilled cheese loving” cities are Baltimore, San Diego and Cincinnati, according to UberEATS.
- UberEATS has also found that the most popular day of the week to order grilled cheese is Saturday. The least popular day is Tuesday.
- 3/4 of people who buy sliced cheese make at least one grilled cheese per month.
- One sandwich has about 300 calories.
- Grilled cheese sandwiches are most commonly served with a bowl of soup. Tomato soup is the most popular type of soup to serve with grilled cheese sandwiches.
- 86% of Americans have consumed at least one grilled cheese sandwich in the past year.
- Mayo is the secret sauce that makes a grilled cheese sandwich creamy from the inside.
- In Switzerland, it is customary to toast the bread and melt the cheese separately before combining them.
- A deep-fried grilled cheese sandwich (yes, there is such a thing) is called a Cheese Frenchie (or Frenchee).
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