Cheese on toast

Cheese on toast consists of toast (toasted on both sides or just one side), with cheese placed on it and then grilled. Further toppings are optional; the most basic being chopped onions (raw or grilled with the cheese), brown sauce or ketchup. Pickled cucumber, Branston pickle, fried tomatoes, fried eggs, Worcestershire sauce and baked beans are also common.^[1][2]

Recipe books and internet articles tend to elaborate on the basics, adding ingredients and specifying accompaniments to make more interesting reading. Consequently, published recipes seldom deal with the most basic form of the dish and frequently refer to the similar dish of Welsh rarebit as "posh cheese on toast".^[3]

Cheddar cheese is most commonly used for cheese on toast, as it is a particularly good cheese for toasting.^{[citation needed]} Lancashire dairies, in conjunction with a "National Cheese Toast Day", have promoted Lancashire cheese as the best cheese to use.^[4]

The cheese dream is an open-faced version of the American grilled cheese sandwich made with bread and cheese; it is cooked with either oil, margarine, or butter. Other ingredients such as bacon, avocado, pineapple, eggs, or sliced tomato can be optionally added to the open-faced sandwich as well.^[5]James Beard wrote about cheese dreams in his book “James Beard’s Simple Foods”, describing the sandwich as "a slice of tomato on bread, covered with American cheese which was melted under the broiler and then graced with crisp bacon".^[6]

It can be cooked in a pan or skillet on the stove top, under a broiler or using a pan in the oven. In its simplest form, it consists of a slice of bread, topped with American cheese, and broiled until the cheese puffs up and browns.^[7]

The cheese dream may have originated during the Great Depression, as "an inexpensive company supper dish"^[5][8] and an inexpensive option for feeding friends and family at Sunday supper.^[9] Additions of sliced tomatoes, ham and bacon could be used, and they were often accompanied by olives and pickles.^[9] A 1932 San Jose News story, "Cheese Dream New Favorite Sandwich," suggested sprinkling the cheese "very sparingly" with a bit of mustard, cayenne "and a little minced red sweet pepper"; the sandwich was browned on both sides and served with "very hot, rich tomato sauce."^[10] The sandwiches may predate the Depression, however, as a 1918 Good Housekeeping issue mentions Cheese Dreams as a luncheon dish, "our teahouse friend."^[11]

Cheese dreams were advertised in 1957 as a 55-cent (equivalent to $5.97 in 2023) luncheonette lenten special in Daytona Beach, Florida's Sunday News Journal.^[12]

The term Cheese Dream has also been used to describe grilled cheese sandwiches, and, in one instance, to Croque monsieur.^{[13][14][15][16]}