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Grilled Cheese and Cozy Reads

Celebrated chef Eric Greenspan pairs classic novels with the perfect grilled cheeses.

By ERIC GREENSPAN • 3 years ago

I find inspiration in my cooking from all forms of creative expression. Painting and visual art influence the color and presentation of a great dish; music influences the rhythm at which one works in the kitchen. But a great dish tells a story. A great dish has a vantage point. A great dish has perspective. And all of these ingredients to a great dish can be inspired by a great book. The following novels each have a sandwich incarnation to them—grilled cheese as literature. How about that?

Down and Out in Paris and London

By George Orwell

Pair with: Frenchie

Frenchie grilled cheese

The first portion of this book is an amazing account of what it was like to toil in the great kitchens of France during the Great Depression. The Frenchie is the perfect grilled cheese to pair with this book, as the stink of the blue cheese, the saltiness of the ham, and the crunch of the baguette all speak to street life in this—or any—Parisian period.

A Streetcar Named Desire

By Tennessee Williams

Pair with: Muffuletta

Muffuletta grilled cheese

Plays are books too, right? And nothing personifies the timelessness of New Orleans for me like this brilliant piece. It’s often regarded as the greatest play of the 20th century and deserves to be paired with one of the greatest sandwiches of the same era. The Muffuletta grilled cheese is an homage to New Orleans’ greatest sandwich. Both the play and this dish are a testament to the majesty of the Big Easy.

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Big Sur

By Jack Kerouac

Pair with: Monterey

Monterey grilled cheese

“Something good will come out of all things yet—and it will be golden and eternal.” Kerouac must have been talking about grilled cheese, no? This book embodies a free spirit to me, and what better pairing than the Monterey Melt. Not only does this sandwich get its inspiration from the same beautiful part of the country as the book does, but the cucumber and grapes are another perfect example of the outside-of-the-box thinking of this great American visionary.

Tropic of Cancer

By Henry Miller

Pair with: Montmartre

Montmartre grilled cheese

No book captures the essence of the Parisian bohemian lifestyle as this once-banned, ribald account of the 1920s and 1930s. And no area of Paris speaks to this lifestyle quite like Montmartre. The sandwich named for this quarter is the perfect pairing to this book. It’s salty, sweet, acidic—much like the words of this story. “One can live in Paris…on just grief and anguish—a bitter nourishment.” (But it helps to have a great grilled cheese.)

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

By Washington Irving

Pair with: Ichabod Crane

Nothing screams autumn like this book, as its tale has been told over countless Halloweens. The imagery of a chase through an upstate New York countryside coupled with the picture of a shattered pumpkin sitting next to the hat of a lost Ichabod Crane has inspired many a nightmare for generations. Eat it with the grilled cheese named after the lead, Ichabod Crane, in which the nuttiness of a cream camembert matches perfectly with a pumpkin chutney and pumpkin seeds.


Featured Image: George Dolgikh/Shutterstock; All Other Images: Colin Price

  • The cover of the book Down and Out in Paris and London

    Down and Out in Paris and London

    George Orwell

    AmazonBarnes & NobleBookshop.orgApple Books
    AmazonBarnes & NobleBookshop.orgApple Books
     
  • The cover of the book A Streetcar Named Desire

    A Streetcar Named Desire

    Tennessee Williams

    AmazonBarnes & NobleBookshop.orgApple Books
    AmazonBarnes & NobleBookshop.orgApple Books
     
  • The cover of the book Big Sur

    Big Sur

    Jack Kerouac

    Buy From Penguin Random House
    Also Available From
    Barnes & NobleBookshop.orgApple BooksAmazon
    Buy From Penguin Random House
    Also Available From
    Barnes & NobleBookshop.orgApple BooksAmazon
     
  • The cover of the book Tropic of Cancer

    Tropic of Cancer

    Henry Miller

    AmazonBarnes & NobleBookshop.orgApple Books
    AmazonBarnes & NobleBookshop.orgApple Books
     
  • The cover of the book The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories

    The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories

    Washington Irving

    Buy From Penguin Random House
    Also Available From
    Barnes & NobleBookshop.orgApple BooksAmazon
    Buy From Penguin Random House
    Also Available From
    Barnes & NobleBookshop.orgApple BooksAmazon
     
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ERIC GREENSPAN is graduate of Le Cordon Bleu culinary school and has trained with celebrated chefs in New York and Spain. He worked as executive chef at Patina in Los Angeles and, in 2007, opened The Foundry on Melrose, which was nominated by the James Beard Foundation as Best New Restaurant in America. He has competed on numerous food shows and has been featured in The New York Times, Wine Spectator, Art Culinaire, Los Angeles Confidential, Angeleno, and Los Angeles Magazine. He just opened Fleishik’s, a new modern Jewish deli, in Los Angeles.

About ERIC GREENSPAN

ERIC GREENSPAN

ERIC GREENSPAN is graduate of Le Cordon Bleu culinary school and has trained with celebrated chefs in New York and Spain. He worked as executive chef at Patina in Los Angeles and, in 2007, opened The Foundry on Melrose, which was nominated by the James Beard Foundation as Best New Restaurant in America. He has competed on numerous food shows and has been featured in The New York Times, Wine Spectator, Art Culinaire, Los Angeles Confidential, Angeleno, and Los Angeles Magazine. He just opened Fleishik’s, a new modern Jewish deli, in Los Angeles.

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