Cheese on Toast

It is raining. You got home late. The kitchen is cold and the fridge is not inspiring. But there is bread, and there is cheese, and the grill takes thirty seconds to heat. That's all you need. That's all anyone has ever needed.

Cheese on toast is not a recipe. It is barely even cooking. But it is one of the most satisfying things you can eat at nine o'clock on a Tuesday when the day has been long and your patience for anything more ambitious ran out somewhere around lunchtime. Two slices, five minutes, and you're sitting down with something hot and bubbling that tastes like exactly the right food for this exact evening. Right food, right evening. That's the whole trick.

The only thing worth saying is this: it stands or falls on two ingredients, so make them count. The bread needs to be proper bread, something with a crust and a crumb, not the soft, pre-sliced sort that folds when you look at it. The cheese needs to be a decent cheddar, mature enough to have some bite, the kind that crumbles a bit when you cut it. After that, there is nothing to teach. You already know how to do this. You've known since you were old enough to reach the grill.

I wrote it down in the notebook once. Just two words: cheese, toast. Some meals don't need more than that.