A HARTE APPETITE: IT'S GOUDA FOR YOU

* The toasted cheese sandwich has found a niche on the menus of fashionable restaurants.

"Many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese toasted mostly," said Robert Louis Stevenson. That's a yearning which my friend and colleague, Dennis Seyer, scenic designer and technical director for University Theatre, will have no trouble satisfying.

At a recent silent auction to benefit Notre Dame High School, Dennis placed the successful bid for what was identified as five pounds of sliced American cheese. Imagine his astonishment when upon claiming his purchase he was informed that there had been a slight misprint in the sale list. What he had bought was not five pounds of sliced cheese, but five blocks of sliced cheese, each weighing four pounds a total of 20 pounds of cheese or nearly 650 slices!

Since props wouldn't be a concern, perhaps Dennis should consider for future production Burton Cohen's play, "The Great American Cheese Sandwich." At any rate, his experience is a symbolic reminder that as a former president of Local #421 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, he is a "big cheese" in technical theatre circles. (The phrase big cheese has meant somebody important ever since a Massachusetts farmer delivered a 1,200-pound wheel of cheese inscribed "the greatest cheese in America for the greatest man in America" to Thomas Jefferson, who served it at a White House New Year's Day reception and was still serving it three years later.)

But in the meantime Dennis, who obligingly shared some of his cheese with me, has, admittedly out of necessity, developed a newfound passion for toasted cheese sandwiches. He is not alone.

Just like meatloaf, bread pudding, mashed potatoes, and other so-called comfort foods, the toasted cheese sandwich has found a niche on the menus of fashionable restaurants around the country. A recent issue of Nation's Restaurant News reports it's selling well at San Francisco's Hawthorne Lane restaurant (where its preparation is not considered beneath the talents of two alums of Wolfgang Puck's operation), Manhattan's Bolo restaurant (where Spanish manchego cheese is favored), Boston's Brew Moon restaurant (where chicken combines with cheddar), the East City Grill in Fort Lauderdale (where Italian ricotta salata stars), and the Avalon Grill in Portland, Ore. (where they go a step, actually three steps, beyond the competition by offering a four-cheese grilled sandwich featuring cheddar, Jack, chevre and Brie). At California's stylish Campanile Restaurant Thursday night is grilled cheese sandwich night and not long ago one New York restaurant sponsored "The Great Grilled Cheese Meltdown," a monthlong event promoting variations on the toasted cheese sandwich, including the not-so-chic Velveeta and Spam on Wonder Bread. The restaurant, which usually sells 1,000 grilled cheeses a month, tripled its sales of the sandwich.

This affection for the toasted cheese sandwich is not difficult to explain. Like many comfort foods, our fondness for it probably has its roots in our childhood. As Professor Robert Thompson, president of the Popular Culture Association, notes, nostalgia exerts a powerful influence on our food choices. And there's probably no better example than the grilled cheese sandwich. It takes us back to grandmother's kitchen when life was simpler. It's the food we remember our mother making for us when we stayed home sick from school. (My mom always served a hot bowl of Campbell's tomato soup alongside.) And when we returned to the classroom, it was a familiar and reliably satisfying item on the school cafeteria menu. It may have been the first thing we ever learned to cook all by ourselves. After all, it doesn't require many ingredients, and it isn't very demanding to prepare. Even famed California chef Alice Waters warmly recalls making toasted cheese sandwiches as a kid, flattening them in the frying pan with a plate. Indeed, the grilled cheese sandwich is a perfect example of what William Hamilton, writing in Metropolitan Home magazine, calls feel-good food: "Not just homemade food, but food that actually makes us feel at home." It's no wonder, then, that Americans make some two billion toasted cheese sandwiches at home each year or that, according to the Joy of Cooking, the grilled cheese sandwich is our favorite hot sandwich after the hamburger.

For all its popularity, nobody seems to know for sure just who invented the toasted cheese sandwich. Perhaps it was a fortunate accident, just like the invention of cheese itself. According to the American Dairy Association, cheese was "discovered" some 4,000 years ago when an Arabian merchant journeyed across the desert and at the end of the day found that the milk he was carrying in a pouch had separated into curds and whey under the hot sun. (Cheesemaking, after all, as famed cheese monger Steven Jenkins notes, is essentially a series of stages of controlled spoilage.)

But who first thought of putting a slab of cheese between two slices of bread and then toasting it remains a mystery.

The Oxford Companion to Food tells us that plain toast is an English specialty, a standard part of a proper English breakfast, and that towards the end of the 16th century people began putting all manner of things poached eggs, bacon, and, of course, melted cheese on top of it. Welsh rabbit was one result of such experimentation. Perhaps the Swiss had something to do with creating the toasted cheese sandwich. After all, what is a toasted cheese sandwich but a fondue eaten out of hand? We do know that during the Depression the grilled cheese sandwich, called the "cheese dream" back then, became a popular item for Sunday evening suppers. Apparently it has yet to fall out of favor.

Whether or not you have several hundred slices of cheese to get rid of, a toasted cheese sandwich can be appealing. And even though it is the height of simplicity, it can still allow you to exercise your creativity. Consider the following variations on the basic sandwich components to make your versions more than mere kids' stuff.

* Vary the cheese. No need to restrict yourself to American cheese or even cheddar. Try goat cheese, feta, fontina, jack, provolone, mozzarella, gruyere, smoked Gouda, gorgonzola and Brie. (At our house when making sandwiches, to Brie or not to Brie is never a difficult question.) Even cream cheese will work.

* Vary the bread. Remembering Jenkins' dictum that serious cheese requires serious bread, try rye, sourdough and focaccia. And don't forget croissants, raisin bread and tortillas. The latter produces a quesadilla (from queso, the Spanish word for cheese) which, as vegetarian-cooking expert Deborah Madison reminds us, is the grilled cheese sandwich of Mexico.

* Vary the toppings. A couple of pickle slices may be all you need to top a regular sandwich, but to make a premium one try caramelized onions, pecans, walnuts, macadamia nuts, roasted peppers, pepper jelly, Dijon mustard, chutney, salsa, apples, pears, watercress, spinach, fresh basil, sauted mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, Kalamata olives and bacon. Geoffrey Seyer, who along with his dad is doing his part to put a dent in the family's newly acquired cheese reserves, likes to insert potato chips into his sandwiches for extra crunch.

And here are some tips for making your grilled cheese perfect every time:

* Butter the outside of the sandwich before toasting. If you're concerned about the calories you can use less butter and melt it in the pan instead or use cooking spray. Avoid low-fat margarine because it's half water and will make the bread soggy.

* Use a heavy frying pan such as a cast-iron skillet to promote browning.

* Cook the sandwich uncovered. A covered pan holds in steam which can make the bread soggy.

* Cook over low or medium heat so the cheese melts slowly and the bread doesn't burn.

* For extra flavor sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese over the buttered outside of the sandwich.

Finally, don't relegate the toasted cheese sandwich merely to lunch or supper. Coated in egg, like French toast, before frying, a grilled cheese sandwich makes a perfect breakfast treat. Substitute pound cake for bread and add some fruit topping and you have a sandwich fit for dessert.

The following recipes rely on some of these aforementioned principles, and even if you're not a confirmed tyrophile (cheese lover), they should help you become a veritable virtuoso when it comes to making toasted cheese sandwiches, or in other words, a grilled cheese whiz.

Grilled Four Cheese Sandwich

This sandwich, based on a recipe from Angie Toole in the Buffalo News, has real appeal to a life long proponent of culinary overkill like me. I suspect you'll like it too.

Ingredients:

2 slices wheat bread

2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons butter, softened

2 slices Monterey Jack cheese

2 slices cheddar cheese

red onion slices

tomato slices

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Spread bread slices with cream cheese on one side, butter on the other. On the cream cheese side of one slice layer remaining ingredients except Parmesan. Top with other slice of bread, cream cheese side down. Sprinkle assembled sandwich on both sides with Parmesan cheese. Grill until golden and cheese is melted, about 2-3 minutes per side.

Apple, Cheddar, and Pecan Quesadillas

I was reminded just how delicious quesadillas can be, toasty on the outside and oozing with cheese, when I recently shared one with my wife at a little Mexican restaurant near Chicago. You can make your quesadilla with one tortilla folded, or flat with two tortillas, as in this recipe inspired by The Essential Cookbook by Caroline and Terence Conron and Simon Hopkinson.

Ingredients:

2 flour tortillas (6-inch size)

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 quarter of a Granny Smith apple

1 tablespoon finely chopped pecans

Directions:

Sprinkle one tortilla with 1/4 cup of cheese. Core apple and slice thinly. Arrange slices in spoke pattern atop cheese. Sprinkle with one tablespoon pecans and top with remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Cover with other tortilla and cook in large frying pan over medium heat, turning once, until browned and cheese has melted, about 3 minutes. Cut into wedges.

Listen to A Harte Appetite every Saturday at 11:59 a.m. following "Whad'ya Know" on KRCU, 90.9 on your FM dial. Send suggestions for this column to A Harte Appetite, c/o The Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699 or by e-mail to tharte@semovm.semo.edu.