How much grilled cheese is too much grilled cheese?
The limit doesn’t seem to exist for Reddit user Pkonko37 — at least, not yet. The North Carolina grocery store worker, who insists on remaining anonymous, has been making a grilled cheese sandwich every day for more than 200 consecutive days and counting — using a different cheese each time and posting the deliciously gooey results to a massively popular Reddit feed with more than 400,000 members.
The idea for the fromage-forward project started when the Redditor — also nicknamed Cheese Realm Knight (or CRK) — secured a position as a cheese specialist at his store. “I’d have little odds and end pieces and my gut reaction was just to put it on some bread and then toast it up,” he told Food & Wine via Zoom (camera off, of course). “And then the more I tried, the more I wanted to share my discoveries and my fascination with as many people as I could.”
Each day, CRK posts a photo of his plastic-gloved hand holding up the grilled cheese sandwich he’d just made using a new variety of cheese — complete with notes ranking each one for flavor and meltiness and any other review notes he wants to share. Because just like his work behind the counter, he finds joy in imparting his cheese knowledge to the masses. For instance, Day 220 saw Chalet Cheese Coop’s Pannaro gouda and Parmesan blend, which he deemed “top tier” with a great melt and a flavor that was “nutty and rich.”
“The more I familiarized myself with cheese, the more I wanted to introduce different things to different people in a more palatable, broken-down way, than the usual mystique of what is the cheese world,” CRK explained. “I try to approach it in a pseudo-scientific way.”
And his way is, indeed, on the methodical side: Every grilled cheese sandwich is made on the same type of bread — a standard slice. And he lets each cheese sit out for approximately 20 to 30 minutes before pressing the sandwich. The only other ingredient in his sandwiches is the nonstick spray on the pan.
“I took this tip from how people prepare their steaks,” CRK said. “It gets to room temp, and then you can bring it from room temp to cooked and it vastly improves it. You get a much nicer melt and heating process through the bread and the cheese.”
As of day 226 in his quest, CRK has determined one very important thing: His favorite cheeses all come from Wisconsin. “I used to think Wisconsin cheeses were just, like, self-boosting. But once I’ve tried as many cheeses as I have, I kind of get it now. There’s a lot of great creameries over there that I fully support.” He’s also a big fan of flavored cheese — like a Bloody Mary cheese from Wisconsin’s North Country Cheese; Deer Creek’s The Rattlesnake, a cheddar infused with tequila and habanero; and Beehive’s Big John’s Cajun, a Utah cheddar rubbed with garlic, celery seed, and cayenne.
So far, he’s found that the majority of cheeses will work in a grilled cheese sandwich. And he’s still not sick of eating it on the daily. “If I was to have grilled cheese every single day for the rest of my life, I would be perfectly content with that,” he says.
Initially, CRK had planned to taste just 100 cheeses before wrapping up the project, but the support on Reddit kept him going. “Everyone’s cheering me on,” he said. “I can’t think of any other food that’s just as good every single time without getting sick of it. There seem to be endless variations. I want to encourage other people to try it out and pick a new cheese.”
Still, the subreddit may conclude after 365 cheeses, which CRK feels is a good place to end. After a year of melty adventures, he’s open to another enthusiast picking up the baton and posting their daily grilled cheeses. The best part of the project was seeing how grilled cheese can be a gooey community builder.
“I’ve had people comment and tell me that they’ve been trying new cheeses and how discovering new things has been a bonding experience for their family and friends,” he says. “That feels very encouraging and exciting to be able to put that kind of newness and funness into the atmosphere.”
Social Plugin