Home Cooks Give Grilled Cheese A Briny Bite With One Jarred Addition

Few foods deliver quite the same return on investment that one finds in a grilled cheese. The ingredients are as basic as it gets, the technique is easy to master, and the sandwich is a comfort food classic that fits the menu in any season and at any time of day or night. With such simple recipes, though, there is an invitation to the cook to have a look around the kitchen and see if there's something to elevate the dish, something that would make this round of crisp, buttery cheese sandwiches a little bit special. It might not occur to everyone, but that half-empty jar of capers in the refrigerator door might be just what you need to add another layer of intrigue to this classic sandwich.

Generally, folks tend to pick up a jar of capers when cooking a recipe that calls for them — like a puttanesca or piccata — but whatever is left of those zingy little pickled flower buds ends up lingering in the fridge for months. This isn't necessarily a problem, as they last just about forever, but rather than having them simply take up space in the fridge, home cooks and professional chefs alike have found that they are great for dressing up grilled cheese sandwiches. In the simplest form, a sprinkle of capers in the midst of the melted cheese provides an occasional pop of bright acidity to counterbalance the richness. For a slightly more complex offering, Giada De Laurentiis uses crispy capers in sandwiches, preferring to fry them first and create a topping that is crunchy, savory, briny, and tart — all in one tiny package.

In most U.S. kitchens, capers are relegated to a very small number of tasks. In truth, though, they are quite a versatile ingredient. So, while it might be tempting to think that using capers in a grilled cheese would require tilting the recipe toward Mediterranean flavors, that isn't necessarily true. We won't discourage you, of course, from filling that griddled sandwich with taleggio, capers, and prosciutto — that would be delicious — but they also work just fine alongside a basic cheddar. Anywhere that a nibble of pickle might fit, so too does the bright, briny zing of a caper. As soon as you add them to your grilled cheese repertoire, you will understand — and perhaps start looking for the next great addition.

Along the same lines as capers, another simple flavor boost for grilled cheese from the pantry can be found in a jar of marinated artichokes. These also add both texture and layers of Mediterranean flavor to an otherwise run-of-the-mill grilled cheese. To switch gears and lean into the regionality of these grilled cheese additions, we can also look at, for example, mixing in roasted peppers for sweetness or olives for an umami boost.

Each of these can be added on its own, or they can all be put in together. It is possible to add enough extras to a grilled cheese that the sandwich loses its delightful adhesive cheese center, but it's hard to argue with the idea of a grilled cheese stuffed with a carefully applied selection of capers, olives, artichokes, and roasted peppers. Whether you choose to add them all or simply stick to the original one-ingredient improvement, it's clear that grilled cheese sandwiches are one more reason that you should always keep a jar of capers in the pantry.