Grilled cheese - not a meal?

[Icannoteven]

So my partner makes a 'meal' he calls grilled cheese'. It literally consists of just cheese grated directly onto a plate and put under the grill until crispy 😐. I've been to his mum's house and seen her make something similar where she cracks an egg into a plate, covers it in grated cheddar and grills it.

He insists that this is a normal meal that everyone eats.

I've literally never seen anyone else eat this. Any time I've heard people talk about a 'grilled cheese' they have meant something like a cheese toastie.

Am I being ignorant or is this just NOT a well known dish. It's just a weird habit peculiar to his family?

Also, who the F cooks an egg under a grill!

That's a "drunk/stoned and haven't been shopping for a week" student snack, not a meal.

Cheddar or parmesan crisps, which are effectively the same thing but bite size, are common canapés but it's not a meal, no.

Yes, cheese melted on to a plate on its own is not a meal. It's at best a snack.

The egg and cheese thing sounds like a crap version of alpine eggs - to make that, you butter individual ramekins, sprinkle with grated cheese, crack an egg on that, sprinkle with more cheese and then add pepper and bake it in the oven until the egg is cooked with a wobbly yolk. My mother-in-law used to make it for me all the time! But even then, the eggs and cheese alone are not a meal; you're meant to serve it with something alongside it, like crusty bread or toast or chips.

Alpine eggs is one I recognise from St Delia of Norwich, Blessed Be Her Name. The version I do isn't in a ramekin though but a bigger baking dish and it uses two eggs per person and quite a lot of cheese, 4oz per person. She recommends serving with crusty bread and a green salad.

Just checked and I see she gives the ramekin version as a starter for a special occasion but uses Gruyere cheese for that whereas normal version is just Cheddar or Lancashire

That sounds delicious 😋 we just had it in mothers pride .

Can’t see many people putting the oven on just to bake eggs in little ramekins with the price of energy it is now

Feta grilled with rosemary and garlic is amazing - with bread to dip into it.
Goats cheese is fabulous grilled
so why not cheddar?

But I'd want a bit of bread to scoop it up with.

And it's not a meal.

I'm in my 50s and live in South Wales. Grilled cheese with egg was something I grew up with, my grandad loved it!!!! It was always served with bread to mop it up with. I like sliced tomato on mine!!!

Nope, never come across this. And no, to me that certainly isn’t a meal, don’t think many people would class it as one.

I love grilled cheese on a plate, it's what I have if I don't fancy a big dinner even better with white bread and butter to soak up the cheese juice as I call it 😋

Sounds delicious. Not a meal.

That isn't a meal, its a cheese tuile.

Was always a supper food when I was a kid, cooked under the grill on an enamel tin plate - literally just a pile of grated cheese melted until a bit toasty on the top. Called toasted cheese as distinct from cheese on toast (as everyone expects, toast, buttered grated cheese on top then back under grill until cheese melts) or toast with cheese (hot toast, sliced cold cheddar). Lots of cheese eaten for supper in our house!

I’d eat it but it’s not a meal

I've never heard of anyone doing this and I do love cheese. It sounds nice enough if it had bread accompanying it!

I did this a lot when I was pregnant. I called it Cheese crisps. Sometimes plain, sometimes with chillies, sometimes with kale. Delicious.

Just cheese?? Just melted cheese?? WTF? If it had anything with it then maybe but not on it's own. I mean my DH will eat slices of cheese as a snack but to go to the trouble of melting it and calling it a meal is hilarious

Of course it's not a meal

What’s sharp cheddar? Mature cheddar? Vintage?

Mmmm! I used to have a version of this as a child - melted/grilled cheese on a plate (sometimes thin sliced tomatoes on top) and mop it up with a slice of bread. I suppose I could call it a "deconstructed cheese un-toastie". Delicious!

We used to have this when I was growing up, I think we just called it baked cheese. Grated cheese, some sliced onion, and a little milk, all piled on to an enamel plate and cooked until nicely melted.

My dad loved this. A sausage, a slice of bacon and grilled cheese
He had his own designated tin plate 😀

My parents used to call it baked cheese - just cheese on toast with no toast! Not a meal as such but a snack for tea.

Why have I never thought of doing this ? Sounds a lovely snack , but not a meal .