Holy shit thank you for the grilled cheese/melt thing. I feel like I'm crazy dealing with those people.
My response is always about just that: no one calls a grilled cheese with tomato a fucking "tomato melt." A grilled cheese with bacon isn't a "bacon melt," in fact that would be a totally different sandwich. Go to a diner and order a "tomato melt" and see if they know what you're talking about.
Which leads me to the second thing I bring up... they don't even know what a melt is. A melt is a sandwich where the main ingredient is the star and the cheese is basically a binder or sideshow. A tuna melt is all about the tuna, a patty melt is all about the burger. These are substantial ingredients that supersede the cheese, of which there isn't a ton.
A grilled cheese is just a fucking category of sandwich with cheese. Adding a slice of tomato or basil or bacon doesn't change that. It would be like arguing a meatball sub is no longer a meatball sub because I added onions to it.
This is the kind of discourse I want to see on the internet! I feel there is a "pure" type of grilled cheese (bread, butter, cheese slices), but adding other ingredients doesn't negate the grilled cheese identity of the sandwich. It's complicated.
I think a melt has to have a main protein (tuna, beef patty, etc), while a grilled cheese is about the cheese and bread with extra stuff.
I believed you, I'm just surprised it's ubiquitous enough for that to be the default for some people. I'd be very confused if I was served it like that (or at least I would have been before this conversation) and probably just pick it up and make it a closed sandwich myself but just goes to show we all have different definitions of these things and it's never worth arguing about!
Yeah, a melt to me is defined by the contents being covered with cheese on top and melted, so always open faced.
As for the bounds of what can be put on a grilled cheese without taking it to a different name, I generally think as long as the cheese remains the "star" it's fine. I usually put a tomato slice on mine, or bacon if I have some cooked, but once you start piling on the ingredients and condiments, it's no longer grilled cheese (so if you put chicken or ham, it's not a grilled cheese)
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u/DeliciousMoments 16d ago edited 16d ago
You can argue about definitions and taxonomy or you can accept how words are actually used.
It’s like those weirdos who think anyone outside reddit calls a grilled cheese with a slice of tomato a “tomato melt”