Thomas Keller's Classy Grilled Cheese Technique Is Easy To Do At Home

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You may not have personally eaten at Thomas Keller's Michelin-starred restaurants, like the French Laundry and Per Se, but you know of him through reputation alone. If someone challenged you to think of famous living chefs, he'd arguably be the second name that comes to mind after Gordon Ramsay — famous enough to make a cameo on "The Bear" and to teach people how to roast chicken on "MasterClass." So what advice might he have for you? You're not a world-renowned chef, as far as we know, and the recipes in his cookbooks often feature an eye-watering number of steps that understandably may intimidate the average home cook. But Keller can teach you how to chop chives like a pro, alongside how to make a great grilled cheese too: Cook it in brown butter.

Everyone knows that you're supposed to spread butter or mayo (the great debate) on the outside of your grilled cheese before plunking it in the pan. But, what Keller presupposes is that maybe you shouldn't. In his cookbook "Ad Hoc at Home," which is filled with recipes for comfort food executed with the celebrated chef's typical, delightful fussiness, Keller outlines his unusual grilled cheese strategy. Simply put, by melting your butter in the pan, you end up with brown butter, which has a toasty, complex, and utterly satisfying flavor. Then, simply put in the cheese sandwich as normal, let it soak up all that delicious buttery goodness on both sides, and pop it in the oven for a few minutes.

If you brown your butter correctly, you'll end up with one of the most delicious substances known to man. But be forewarned that if you don't brown it properly, though, it'll be a scorched, runny, and rancid mess, which obviously isn't ideal when crafting a comforting grilled cheese sandwich. That's why it's so important to do it right and to take your time: Let the butter melt, cook away the water until only the milk solids remain, and let it toast for a few minutes, always watching carefully.

If you'd like, and if you have a fine-mesh sieve handy, you can even strain the browned butter to remove the little browned bits, resulting in something clean and pure. But some people think the browned bits add a little je ne sais quoi, so we won't judge you too harshly if you decide to keep them in instead. Either way, browned butter is a great way to enrich all sorts of dishes, from rich homemade pancakes to labor-intensive but delicious cinnamon rolls and, of course, grilled cheese.