Asklemmy @lemmy.ml

1y ago

What goes good with American Cheese?

I've really only put it on some burgers, but would like to see what others like it with :D

97 comments

Steak as in a Philly Cheesesteak.
- Yes. Cheese whizz first and then second place is American cheese.
  
  What's really funny is cheese whiz on a steak sounds nasty. But biting into one is like a small piece of heaven.

American cheese is just normal, cheddar style cheese but with the addition of some sodium citrate.
Sodium citrate is a fun little food chemical that give the cheese a slight citrus bite, but more importantly acts as an emulsifier. It keeps the oil and water inside the cheese bonded together. This means the cheese melts and then never becomes greasy.
You can abuse this. You can make a super creamy cheese sauce for a higher brow mac and cheese by using some shredded cheese, a couple slices of American, and a few splashes of the pasta water.
- This person emulsifies.
  American cheese, like sliced bread, is an amazing achievement of food science. And then people shit on it because they don't understand it's purpose.
  
  Same thing for tomato ketchup.
- yep i have been a sodium citrate convert since i watched an adam ragusea video on the topic. https://piped.video/watch?v=KcM_MZoJWOo
  i picked up a bag off amazon for cheap and it really is magic.

My wife just made a bagel, egg, bacon and American cheese sammich, pretty damn tasty
- I’d argue this is the perfect form for American cheese. Melts into the egg and bacon. Burgers are good to, but you can swap for pepper jack, etc.

American cheese is not a flavor. American cheese is a blend of cheese, fat, and emulsifying agents. if there's cheddar in the blend, it'll taste mostly like cheddar, but less of it because it's only, like, half cheddar.
The important part of the American cheese, in figuring out how to use it, is the emulsifiers.
My preferred use case is using a slice of American cheese in mac and cheese, alongside some other cheese (I love Gouda) for flavor. Or like four other cheeses, whatever. Sometimes I mix in a tiny bit of cream cheese or mascarpone or a little milk, which gets emulsified into a sauce thanks to the American cheese, and makes the whole situation creamier. And then I season the whole situation well, especially if I added that last ingredient, to bring out the flavor of the cheeses.
Now, that's not a real, advanced mac and cheese. I could be making a mornay or something. But I'm lazy and I don't really keep butter in the house. So I cheat. Pro chefs might also use other emulsifying agents to control the flavor and chemistry better, rather than just chucking in a slice of some american blend.
but it's a handy shortcut.

I recommend putting a slice or multiple slices of American cheese on a hot bowl of Top Ramen, Chicken flavor. Cheesy ramen is pretty good

Use it for a grilled cheese sandwich. Or just about any kind of sandwich.

Grilled cheese - American cheese is the only way i enjoy a grilled cheese. Also, Black Forest ham and American cheese sandwich with lettuce tomato and mayo on a baguette or other real tasting bread.

If you do get American cheese, get some from the deli, it's much better than Kraft.
- It fascinates me that you guys would have this stuff in a deli!
  It's also not called "American cheese" in my country (NZ).
  It's called "processed cheese" and strongly associated with children's lunches, so most of it is packaged to appeal to children.
  
  Processed cheese is not cheese. It's rubber that won't hold air. It's cheese product. The only acceptable use for processed cheese slices is throwing at your little brother. I wouldn't even feed those to a dog.
  
  This comment makes me want to huck imported cheese at you.
  I've never met a cheese I didn't like.
- Kraft’s Deli-style is pretty good, too (comes in a pre-sliced block, like what restaurants use for burgers). Just don’t get the Kraft singles, which aren’t nearly as good in flavor or consistency.
- Even better: If the deli has Cooper Cheese, get that.

I'd personally say nothing since I just do not like it at all.

Assuming this refers to essentially processed cheese like kraft singles.
9/10 times a different cheese will taste much better and texturally if you're using a good melting point cheese for the use case better there as well.
That said, this style of cheese excels and is really only tolerable in HOT food. It needs to be melted. Its nasty pre-melt and its nasty post-melt. But while melted, it's good.
A grilled cheese with real and stringy cheeses is great. But sometimes a grilled cheese with 2 kraft singles is what you crave.

Omelettes and egg sandwiches. Roast beef sandwiches. Oddly, one slice in a bowl of packaged ramen.
Just get the good quality stuff, not Kraft singles.
- my favourite lunch right now is scrambled egg on toast with an american cheese slice between the bread and the egg

American cheese is great when you want a cheese that melts, but doesn't become liquid. It's great for burgers, grilled cheese, Mac and cheese, and dips.
- Cooper sharp is the burger cheese.

Hamburgers!
- Bonus points if it's white American from the deli. The way it becomes not quite solid, not quite liquid, makes it perfection on a solid smash patty. Don't forget to toast them buns, hon.
  Great, now I'm craving a burger...
  
  I'm pretty sure the only difference between the yellow and white American cheeses is the addition of annatto

Wrap a hotdog in a slice of it
- Whoa.
  
  Look up whistle-dogs.
- Is this a Canadian thing? I didn't know about this until I dated a Canadian girl. Not for me, but she swore by it.

White bread, mildly flavored meats, mild soups.
Our "cheese" has a very mild flavor, overall, but melts thoroughly and very quickly, which is mainly what we use it for. This is why you find it on things like grilled cheese and cheeseburgers, but if you see a slice cold it's a little extra sad, since you're missing out on the one thing it's actually good at.

Mix it into scrambled eggs.
If you have given up on life for the day and just need some Kraft Dinner while you watch your stories, melt a couple slices in.
It's recommend that you do the eggs a couple times a week and the KD a couple times a quarter.

Please try putting a slice of American cheese into some shin ramyun or equivalent Korean ramyun. It is amazing. Also works with other types of instant ramen but the umami and spiciness of Korean ramyun makes the cheese flavor extra good.
- It goes great with ttoekbokki, too!
  
  Hell yes.

A hot dog. Let the cheese warm to room temp, then toast the bun. Once your Weiner and Buns are both ready put the cheese inside the bun under the dog and it should melt nicely. Add whatever your hot dog toppings of choice are.
Also literally any kind of sandwich that cheese is good on is another safe bet. Also grilled cheese.
- You just gonna gloss over the whistle dog? C'mon now.
  Take two fingers of cheese and nestle a fried or boiled weiner betwixt. Wrap that thoroughly in long strips of lightly cooked peppered bacon, and poke some toothpicks through to hold it all together. Broil in the oven until the cheese starts to get melty. Bonus points if you get some sear on the bacon before all the cheese escapes. Put that on a toasted bun with garlic butter. Remember to remove the toothpicks. Serve with salsa fries or poutine.
  
  Not quite the same as described but weirdly as a kid this was thee menu item I always wanted from A&W

Sadness.

Statins.
- Underrated comment right here

Classic grilled cheese.
There are a lot of ways to cut cheese. Just sayin.

A childhood comfort snack for me was saltine crackers topped with American cheese. Still eat it every once in awhile.

Apple pie
- Okay so this thread is beginning to freak me out now.
  
  Don't knock it until you try it
- Found the New Englander.

Jokes about Americans being tasteless barbarians?

Nobody will agree with me but I've been making the plainest salami sandwich for like 20 years and it is one of my favourite things to eat. Two slices of whatever white bread, four slices of hot genoa salami, one kraft single. I actually love to cook and bake and can make almost anything, but I still love this sandwich.
- Live your best life
- Dry? No butter or mustard?
  
  Yep, dry.

As weird as this sounds my brother and I eat a slice of American cheese with a banana and it tastes surprisingly good. Just a banana with cheese wrapped around it nothing else. Might be the most out there but I still enjoy it from time to time.

My family has a recipe that uses it to make the sauce creamy and delicious as others have mentioned. It's super quick and easy to make since it's mostly canned foods. It may not be gourmet, but it is definitely comfort food in a pinch. It's called Tallarine.
1lb ground beef
1/2 medium onion diced
2 cloves garlic... or more
1 can stewed italian tomatoes (sometimes I add a can of spicy peppers like jalapeño to be more like a Mexican dish)
1 small can of sliced mushrooms (I usually leave these out)
1 can whole kernel sweet corn
1 small can sliced black olives
1-2c uncooked egg noodles depending on how noodly you like to get
4 slices American Cheese
Brown the beef with onion and garlic. I usually throw in some salt and pepper here. Add all other ingredients except the cheese. Add some water of it's too dry. Cover and cook until the noodles are tp your preference. Add the cheese and stir until melted and mixed.
Haters gonna hate American Cheese "Product", but it can sure make some tasty dishes.

Philly cheese steak pizza. I know it sounds like an abomination but if you put the real white American cheese underneath the mozzarella it works as sort of a cheese sauce. Greath with onions peppers and steak on top.

It's excellent for making mac n cheese. It contains enough emulsifiers for far more cheese than just that slice, so you can add what cheese you actually want and still have it be silky smooth.

Burgers are just about the only good use for it IMO
- This but only on fast food. If I'm making a burger myself, I'm going to put good cheddar cheese on it. Or maybe blue cheese.
  
  Obviously you do you, but man I make a mean smash burger at home with deli-style American and an exceptionally simple seasoning of 4 parts salt, 1 part pepper.
  Don’t get me wrong, bleu cheese on a burger is a solid choice. But I don’t really like cheddar on burgers nearly as much. Doesn’t melt the right way.

"American cheese" usually means a processed sliced cheese made from melted cheese curds. It's most often found in cheeseburgers, especially fast-food-style cheeseburgers.
Related cheeses include Midwestern brick cheese which is used in Detroit-style pizza, which is a whole lot tastier than any fast-food cheeseburger.

It can make a decent grilled cheese, but I was going to say burger.
IMO, it's kind of a mid-tier general cheese: You can use it for lots of stuff, whether it's better is a matter of personal taste.

Debt

Works well as a lasagne topping.

What goes good with American Cheese?
diabetes
- macgyver always carried a few slices... in case he needed an industrial sealant....

for the real processed stuff that comes individually wrapped, any place you need an instant melt cheese-turns-into-a-sauce sort of thing

White bread.
(Grilled cheese sandwiches)
- And tomato soup to dip it in.

Philly cheese steak waffle fries

There's this amazing chicken enchilada soup I've had whose ingredients include a whole pack of this stuff (specifically in Velveeta form, but it's the same stuff). Best damn soup I've ever tasted.