Gouda Times - Gouda, Bratwurst, and Spicy Mustard Pretzel Roll Grilled Cheese

Even though every single person is talking about Hurricane Sandy right now, I'm not going to do that! Ok, ok, maybe I'll just tell you a little bit about it. To sum things up, I was trapped inside for three days and did nothing but cook, watch movies, and drink wine. Besides my jeans fitting a little too tight and being stuck in Bushwick for an unknown amount of time, the aftermath of Sandy hasn't been that bad to me and my homies - much love to everyone that its hurt. 

But enough about the hurricane that made lower Manhattan look like a clip from The Day After Tomorrow (gahhh remember when Jake Gyllenhaal used to be hot and before he f'd over T Swift? he was such a qt bby), here's the real story that goes along with this little grilled cheesy sandwich of goodness. A few weeks ago, The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board send me on the most baller foodie trip of all time. We toured Wisconsin so hard and visited local cheese makers, breweries, distilleries and some amazing restaurants. Needless to say, I drank and ate way too much but I learned so much, met some amazing people (wazzup Underground Food Collective?!), and ate so much fresh cheese that I feel sick thinking about it. #noregrets!

During my first night there, I met Sid Cook, who's known as the most award winning cheese maker in the world! Omg, can you say cream dream? I, of course, developed a huge crush on him and I also learned that I've been saying Gouda wrong for my entire life. It's pronounced GOW-DUH! So in honor of my time in Madison, and because I want to be back there right now, I decided to make a special little GC that reminds me of how amazing the cheese state is. With pretzel bread, a bratwurst, sweet hot mustard, and some real Wisconsin GOW-DUH, my ode to Wisconsin is grilled.

Here's what you'll need lil dawgie...

Ingredients:

-1 pretzel roll
-1 cup of shredded Wisconsin Gouda
  (I used Carr Valley bc I love Sid Cook)
-1 cooked bratwurst
-1 tablespoon sweet and spicy mustard
-2 pats of butter (not pictured, whoops!)

You know my little trick about cutting the top of a roll off to get a super crispy grilled cheese crust? Well, that's what you'll be doing for this grilled cheese. Just slice off the top and feel free to butter it up and eat it as an appetizer. Next, flip over the bottom bun so that the interior of the roll is facing the cutting board. THEN! cover it with some tasty Wisconsin Gouda.

Now take your grilled up bratwurst and slice it in half. Then lay it on. I know it looks kind of gross right here, but I swear, it'll be awesome when it's all done and there's little meat nubs hanging off the edges. Yaow!

Then dollop on some of that sweet and spicy mustard onto the other piece of the bun and plop the remaining cheese on top of the brat.

Close it up, give it a little kiss, and gently place some butter in a frying pan and another pat of buttaaaa on top of the sandwich.

In a grill pan, over medium heat, cook your grilled cheese for about 5 minutes or until it's all hot and crusty. Flip that 'ish and do the same thing!

Keep watching as the cheese melts all over the place but keep it together, it's almost done!

On the real tip, my heart goes out to all of those affected by this stupid hurricane and even though I'm not that strong and you probably don't want me to help rebuild anything, I wish I could all make you all a million grilled cheeses to make your tummy happy. I'd also really like to thank the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board for sending me to Wisconsin and treating me like a queso queen. Much luv and r'pekkkk y'all...

 xoxo,

GCS