National Grilled Cheese Day in the Finger Lakes
We love national food holidays around here, especially when they are celebrating a sandwich. Today is national grilled cheese day and we can’t imagine a better food to celebrate. Cheese, bread, a little butter and a hot pan equals culinary heaven in our house. But much depends on the dairy. Fortunately we have amazing cheesemakers in the Finger Lakes providing excellent quality cheeses for all kinds of dishes.
One of our favorite, hardworking dairy farmers is Nancy Richards, who owns Finger Lakes Farmstead Cheese in Mecklenburg. Her cheeses are mostly made in the Dutch style, of cow’s (mostly holsteins) milk. Her family has owned the land and run the dairy farm there for decades but Nancy was the one to get the family started with turning all that milk into massive wheels of good cheese.
So how to make the best grilled cheese using Nancy’s finest? We’re partial to her Red Meck variety for our grilled sandwich.The Red Meck (Meck being short for the village of Mecklenburg), is made with an aromatic red bacteria surface wash, giving it a tangy, lingering cheese flavor and is perfect for melting.
So heat up your best cast iron pan, throw a dab of butter in it, grate up a chunk of Nancy’s cheese (grating the cheese helps it melt faster and more evenly), layer it between some good bread slices (we like Heidelburg Baking Company’s Peasant Bread) and toast until golden brown on both sides, adding more butter if necessary (more butter is always necessary).
Remove from pan, slice in half, pour a glass of hard cider and be glad you had a reason to celebrate good cheese and bread using local Finger Lakes food.
