Martha Stewart's Butter Trick Gives Your Grilled Cheese An Extra Unctuous Bite

With her trademark unruffled poise, Martha Stewart has helped homemakers across the world entertain their guests, whether they're having people over for a simple dinner party or hosting Thanksgiving at their place. She can turn a bottle of Coke into a refreshing summer treat, she can whip up some French toast with a Grand Marnier liqueur, and she can even convince us to eat pungent onion sandwiches. So it's only natural that we would take her advice when it comes to making grilled cheese sandwiches — especially regarding the eternal question of butter versus mayo. Plot twist: Stewart uses both.

For the outside of the sandwich, Stewart likes to use mayonnaise or a mixture of mayo and butter. But what really makes her approach different is the way she uses butter. She smears it on the inside of the bread — that is, the side with the cheese. This way, it mixes with the melted cheese and creates a beautifully smooth and creamy texture, not to mention a softer mouthfeel. (Anyone who has ever had to suffer through a grilled cheese whose bread feels like roof shingles will know how important this is.) Just be sure to wait until it's cool enough to eat, or all that molten cheese and butter could end up all over your plate — or, for that matter, your shirt.

Butter versus mayo is an important debate, but it's only part of the grilled cheese question. What kind of bread, pray tell, will you be putting your butter or mayo on? Martha Stewart prefers to use thick slices of sourdough bread, so this is a great opportunity for you to visit your local bakery and get some of the nicer loaves (or to make use of that sourdough starter you got for Christmas last year).

Then there's the matter of cheese, with which Stewart takes an interesting approach. Most of us would just slap some American cheese slices on that bad boy and call it a day, but she decides to use shredded cheddar cheese in addition to American. It's a solid idea: Not only do you get a sharper, more complex flavor from the cheddar, but you get a luxurious stretchiness that you just won't get with ultra-processed American cheese alone.