It's simple to prepare, and great for parties:

Take a whole loaf of bread, and a box of cheese slices. Start with two slices from the middle of the loaf, butter, and prepare like a normal grilled cheese sandwich.

Once the cheese in the middle is melted, and both slices of bread are golden brown, add more cheese to the top of the sandwich, then top with a buttered slice of bread. Flip the loaf. Repeat until all slices of bread and cheese are used up.

Kids come running!
-- MotoMannequin, Aug 17 2001

Elvis?
-- thumbwax, Aug 17 2001


What is the recommended method of eating this? Do you just peel off a sandwich? Grab a fork and dig in?
-- PotatoStew, Aug 17 2001


Cheesio!
-- reensure, Aug 17 2001


Tip it into a trough and whistle? Or stage an elaborate carving ceremony?
-- Monkfish, Aug 17 2001


"Tip it into a trough and whistle" seems perfectly appropriate.
-- PotatoStew, Aug 17 2001


Fork? You're losing me here.
-- MotoMannequin, Aug 17 2001


You would prefer a spork, perhaps? How did you get lost?
-- PotatoStew, Aug 17 2001


You eat it just like a meatloaf, yes? Slice off a hunk, slather it with ketchup, and eat it. If there are leftovers you could probably string a wick through and burn the fat for light.
-- Dog Ed, Aug 17 2001


This is very much like an Italian bread creation my friends love me to make. You make bread dough as normal, and wrap inside it a tomato/basil/mozzarella-based filling, bake it, let it cool, slice it like a loaf and you should get a swirl of bread and filling. I would humbly suggest that this may be a little healthier than a toasted loaf with cheese slices, and I believe it is more interesting than just cheese! But you're right, kids do come running, as do the adults.
My father also has a story about the lunch he and his brother used to take to school - my grandmother would take a fresh baked loaf, cut it in half, hollow out the insides and fill with cheese and pickle. She would then squash down the halves, and they had one each. I don't know what happened to the inside - maybe breadcrumbs for baking, or for bread sauce?
-- Viennoise, Aug 17 2001


Why is this here? From the Halfbakery Help page: 'if something belongs to an Internet recipe site, it should be posted there.'
-- angel, Aug 17 2001


I meant why is the 'idea' here.
-- angel, Aug 17 2001


Taken out of context: "Straight recipes - if something belongs to an Internet recipe site, it should be posted there. "

Are you suggesting this belongs on a recipe site? It's not a recipe unless someone actually cooks it.
-- MotoMannequin, Aug 17 2001


Faulty logic, MotoMannequin. The status of a set of instructions as a recipe is not dependant upon whether anyone attempts to follow those instructions. Or did you mean to say that it's not a recipe until someone cooks the actual instructions? (your wording wasn't clear in this respect)
-- DrBob, Aug 17 2001


Sounds delish and great for day-cares, camps, preschools, and other places that have to feed a big honkin' passel of young'uns
-- Sparki, Aug 17 2001


Yuk! Sounds disgusting. By 'cheese slices' I'm guessing you mean processed cheese - but why? All you're suggesting here is a complicated way of making a toasted sandwich. And if you're slicing the loaf conventionally, what size of grill do you have that will take a loaf end-on? you could slice horizontally, I suppose...
Seen at a posh wedding reception in Perth (Scotland): large country loaf, like a French rustique (well that's what they call it in Sainsbury's), the top sliced off and the soft inside hollowed out. Doughy insides then used in tiny swiss-rolls with cream cheese, or salmon strips, or nutty paté, and put back into the hollow loaf for presentation - it was neat and effective. I subsisted on them and champagne all night (and I was only supposed to be in the choir!)
-- lewisgirl, Aug 17 2001


DrBob:

I concede that a recipe can be a recipe even if no one cooks it. But is the Grilled Cheese Loaf a valid idea for this site?

It is a recipe, so it's borderline, but the help page reads, "Straight recipes - if something belongs to an Internet recipe site, it should be posted there. "

"Straight recipes" is not well defined, but since angel omitted these words when she (he? it?) quoted the page, the feeling might be there that this is not a "straight recipe." I certainly don't think this creation belongs on a recipe site, but if anyone cooks it, eats it, and likes it, I will have to concede that point too. That is the logic behind my statement.
-- MotoMannequin, Aug 17 2001


[admin: I agree with [MotoMannequin]. As long as you feel that way, the recipe is fine halfbakery material.]
-- jutta, Aug 17 2001


Make toasted sandwiches with mozzarella. Do it once and there's no going back.
-- -alx, Aug 17 2001


I would consider adding just a touch of anchovy as well, if you're not averse to the salty ways of this little fish.
-- -alx, Aug 17 2001


I was wary of it too, hence the disclaimer at the end...fresh ones in some kind of citrus & olive oil marinade are particularly lovely, especially when grilled.
-- -alx, Aug 17 2001


People please! If recipes aren't allowed on the HB then this kind of gourmet ingredient swapping must surely be out of bounds.
-- gravelpit, Aug 17 2001


Although I completely agree, processed cheese is disgusting and doesn't even grill terribly well either.
-- gravelpit, Aug 17 2001


I suspect you're an undercover agent working for the Anti-Anchovy Lobby, [gravelpit]. You'll never take my fish away from me.
-- -alx, Aug 17 2001


Kids come running to look at roadkill, also.
-- The Military, Aug 18 2001


So it's not really a *Grilled Cheese Loaf*, just a loaf of grilled cheese sandwich. Since I've never seen meatloaf prepared the way you describe, why not adapt a meatloaf recipe (sorry, there's *that* word again) and use bread crumbs, shredded cheeses (a variety of cheeses for flavour and character) and spices all mixed together and baked in a loaf pan. Make sure you take it out of the pan before it hardens, I mean cools.
-- Canuck, Aug 18 2001


Similar idea: manufacture a loaf of bread with American (or various) small cheese globs suspended in it, as well as smaller globs of margarine, then toast (in a toaster oven, not a toaster).
-- jester, Apr 27 2002


That processed cheese "food" is called "American" is just so unfair.
-- bristolz, Apr 27 2002



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