Kimchi Butter Grilled Cheese
A café-style grilled cheese: sour kimchi caramelised in butter, melted between mozzarella and cheddar in golden, crisp toasted bread.
Method
Squeeze the kimchi lightly to remove excess juice and chop it into 1 cm pieces. Too much juice makes the bread soggy.
Add in this stepWell-fermented napa cabbage kimchi 160 g
Melt part of the butter in a 20 cm pan, add the kimchi and sugar and fry on medium heat for , until the juice has cooked off and the edges look lightly caramelised. Turn off the heat, stir in the scallion and tip onto a plate. Wipe the pan clean with kitchen paper.
Add in this stepButter, softened 11 gSugar 1 tspScallion, thinly sliced 2 tbsp
medium heatSpread the remaining butter thinly on one side of each bread slice. Lay half the slices buttered side down and top each with a slice of cheddar, the kimchi and the mozzarella, then close with the other slices, buttered side up. The cheddar layer stops the kimchi juice soaking into the bread.
Add in this stepThick white sandwich bread slices 4Cheddar slices 2Mozzarella, shredded 80 gButter, softened 25 g
Heat the cleaned pan on medium-low heat and cook the sandwiches in 1 batch(es), lid on, for per side, pressing gently with a spatula. They are done when the bread is deep golden and the cheese starts to ooze at the sides. Keep the heat low: too hot and the bread burns before the cheese melts.
medium-low heatMove to a board and wait 1 minute so the cheese sets slightly and doesn't run out when cut. Cut diagonally and serve hot.
Cook's tip
The sourer and riper the kimchi, the better it tastes with butter and sugar; with young kimchi, add a few drops of vinegar while frying. Spreading a thin layer of mayonnaise on the outside instead of butter gives an even crisper, more even crust.
Cooking it at camp
At camp, fry the kimchi at home and bring it ready. Cook the sandwiches over low heat in a heavy pan on the stove, or in a campfire sandwich iron. Over charcoal, raise the grill well above the coals so the bread doesn't scorch.