Saveur Cooks Authentic American - Editors Of Cook's Illustrated Magazine [2]
—JAMES OSELAND
Snacks, Starters, and Salads
A variety of mezedes, or small plates, at Tsinari, an ouzeri in the city of Thessaloniki, in northern Greece.
Every corner of the globe has its favorites: Thai spring rolls, Argentine empanadas, Italian crostini. From the Mediterranean and the Middle East, where snacking on small plates is a way of life, we get hummus drizzled with aromatic olive oil, vegetable-filled savory pies, and grilled bread topped with peak-of-season ingredients like wild mushrooms or sweet, juicy tomatoes. If you ask us, there’s no more convivial way to eat than laying out a table full of these flavorful starters and inviting everyone to dive in.
The Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich
The French cows’ milk cheese Comté is one of the best melting cheeses we know of. The key to bringing out its mildly sharp, herbaceous flavors is to cook it very slowly in a generous amount of butter over moderate heat, allowing it to relax into a luscious melt—in this case between two thick slices of sourdough bread.
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
4 ½ -inch-thick slices sourdough bread
8 oz. Comté cheese, grated
Serves 2
1. Spread the butter evenly on both sides of each slice of bread. Put half the cheese on one slice and half on another. Top each with a remaining bread slice.
2. Heat a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat. Add the sandwiches to the skillet and cook, flipping once with a metal spatula, until golden brown and crusty on both sides, 9–10 minutes each side. Transfer the sandwiches to a cutting board and slice in half with a knife.
COOKING NOTE While Comté makes the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich, other semifirm cheeses—including Jarlsberg, fontina, and Gruyère—melt beautifully, too.
The Real Thing
As much as I loved grilled American cheese sandwiches as a kid, it wasn’t until a few years ago that I discovered how transcendent this classic comfort food can taste when it’s made with truly great cheese. That epiphany came after a visit to the Jura mountains, along the French-Swiss border. There, I was seduced by Comté, a semifirm cheese born of the distinctive milk of local Montbéliarde cows, whose diet includes wild orchids, daisies, dandelions, and more than 400 other plant varieties that grow on the green hillsides of the Franche-Comté region. Produced in the fruitières, or cooperative dairies, that have dotted this landscape for centuries, the wheels of cheese are aged on spruce boards for a few weeks before being entrusted to an affineur, or cellar master, who oversees its further maturation. Unlike many AOC cheeses (meaning those from specially designated cheese-making regions), Comté is made with an emphasis not on uniformity but on individuality. A young cheese that’s just a few months old may taste and smell like butter, an older one that’s been aged for a year or more, like fruit and spices. Over time, the cheese develops hints of chocolate, spice, nutmeg, apricot, hazelnut, and caramel, flavors that become even more prominent, I discovered, once the cheese has melted. It’s no wonder that Comté is such a celebrated cooking cheese, used in both France and the United States for everything from fondues to soufflés to gratins to my personal favorite, great grilled cheese sandwiches.
—Cara de Silva
Frisée Salad with Poached Eggs and Bacon
Frisée aux Lardons
This classic French bistro salad gets its savor and crunch from a liberal scattering of thick bacon slivers, which the French call lardons. saveur contributor Eugenia Bone (pictured) makes it with her own home-cured bacon, but any store-bought unsmoked slab bacon will work well. For tips on poaching eggs, see “Perfect Poaching.”
5 ½ -inch-thick slices unsmoked slab bacon, sliced