Tomato Soup And a Grilled Cheese Sandwich

[Standing Wolf]

As someone who grew up in the Midwest - Indiana - a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup was always the preferred "comfort food" - good for cold, rainy, depressing days, while recovering from small tragedies or in the aftermath of big family fights - what-have-you. And in asking older relatives and acquaintances - older than me, I mean, and I was born in 1954 - it was the preferred comfort food for them, as well, whether they'd lived in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Wisconsin or Minnesota, and as far back as the turn of the 20th Century. So I began wondering how this particular pairing came about, and how widely it was practiced and enjoyed.

While this article is interesting, its promised discussion of this combo's "origins" is minimal, fleeting, and I believe short-sighted. It suggests that it might have became popular during the Depression for reasons of household economy, or that it might have had roots in the Italian immigrant community.

https://shariblogs.com/the-origins-o...eese-sandwich/



Other articles that I've found also go into the invention of the grilled cheese sandwich as having been a "busy housewife" thing in the 1920s, but very little if anything about how a cheese sandwich, grilled or un-grilled, happened to have been paired with tomato soup.

I'd always assumed that it was just a Midwest thing, and that people in other parts of the country had their own and different comfort foods...but if the articles that I've been reading are to be believed, it's national.

Beyond that, I was watching an episode of 'Law & Order: U.K.' the other night - with the closed captioning on, believe me - and someone's mother was mentioned as having helped them to get over some childhood disappointment by giving them "a bowl of tomato soup and a Dairylea sandwich". (I looked it up, and Dairylea is a British brand of cheese.) No idea if they grill them up over there, but apparently this is far more than just an American phenomenon.

[DGUtley]

I make a great GC.

[Standing Wolf]

I make a great GC.

I'm lazy - I put them in the toaster oven and they ALWAYS come out burnt on one side and cold on the other. My youngest kid, when he lived at home, used to make his old man wonderful grilled cheese sandwiches, and he used a skillet, which I guess is really the only way to do it right.

I seem to halfway remember my mother would sometimes put a few dill pickle slices in the grilled cheese sandwiches. She made some odd sandwiches. Sliced radish sandwiches with butter. And she used to slice a cucumber super-thin and fry the slices so they were crisp, about the consistency of an onion ring. Those were REALLY good.

[DGUtley]

Skillet
butter
cheese

[Abby08]

Skillet
butter
cheese

A little garlic powder and, Italian seasoning.

[Abby08]

I'm lazy - I put them in the toaster oven and they ALWAYS come out burnt on one side and cold on the other. My youngest kid, when he lived at home, used to make his old man wonderful grilled cheese sandwiches, and he used a skillet, which I guess is really the only way to do it right.

I seem to halfway remember my mother would sometimes put a few dill pickle slices in the grilled cheese sandwiches. She made some odd sandwiches. Sliced radish sandwiches with butter. And she used to slice a cucumber super-thin and fry the slices so they were crisp, about the consistency of an onion ring. Those were REALLY good.

After grilling, I pull both halves apart and, add dill pickle slices.

[Omar]

I'll have to try this pickle thing. I like to cook, but for some reason with grilled cheese sandwiches I don't have enough patience. I'll usually try to flip it too soon, and then end up leaving it too long so it's burned on one side and undercooked on the other. I often think about having grilled cheese with tomato soup, but I rarely actually do it. Had it a lot more when I was a kid. Sounds good though.

[hanger4]

Have sat around the table many a cold day dippin a grilled cheese in a mug of tomato soup with the kids and better half.

[Standing Wolf]

Skillet
butter
cheese

Hold on...let me write that down.

[Omar]

Skillet
butter
cheese

You left out the bread