The Bourbon Grilled Cheese Sandwich of Etherus

Hey, guess who I bumped into the other day? Etherus. You know, the Santharian God of Excess. Not to brag but he’s a personal friend. Yeah, we go waaay back. He likes to drop by unexpectedly. Usually whenever I break out the bourbon. That’s a bad habit of his but what can I do? He just doesn’t take a hint. Like the other night while I was watching a football game and sipping on some sour mash when, sometime after the half, who shows up? The E-Man. It seems that E was hungry and thought that a grilled cheese sam’itch might hit the spot. Yeah, that might taste real good about now. But not just ANY grilled cheese. Oh, noooooo. Not for the G of E. He had a reputation to uphold. It was time to step it up! A little cheese between two hunks ‘a bread just wasn’t gonna cut it! It was all in and balls out! The following abomination is what he came up with.

The Bourbon Grilled Cheese Sandwich of Etherus

Ingredients for two individual servings:
Mayonnaise
Horseradish
Bourbon
1 pound of bacon
4 cloves of chopped garlic
1 medium red onion (chopped)
4 slices of your favorite bread
2 slices of sharp cheddar cheese
2 slices of Munster cheese

Sorry about the quality of the pictures, but I didn’t know that I would be making this until I was making this. (The God of Excess always sneaks up on you!)

First, I started frying the bacon. I had some Applewood uncured bacon on hand and I usually prefer it pretty limp, but for this sandwich I fried it firm but not overly crisp. Once all of the bacon was cooked I transferred it to a plate and then I threw in the onions and garlic and sautéed them in the bacon grease until the onions were beginning to brown. Then I deglazed the pan with a good dose of bourbon and let that cook down until most of the liquid had simmered out. I transferred the onions and garlic to a bowl and wiped out the pan with a paper towel. Next, I took three tablespoons of mayo and added three teaspoons of prepared horseradish plus a tablespoon of bourbon (of course!) and mixed that together in a separate bowl. (Etherus just loves sauces so who am I to deny him?)

For a single serving, take two slices of whatever bread you have on hand and coat one side of each slice with mayo. Then throw a tablespoon of butter into your pan and bring it up to a low-medium heat. Place the first slice, mayo-side down, in the pan.

Next, place a couple of strips of bacon on the bread. I used cooking shears and cut the bacon the length of the bread and then included the cut ends. Now we’re ready for a slice of sharp cheddar.

After the cheddar comes a pile of the sautéed onions and garlic.

Now drizzle on a mess of that secret sauce.

Top with a slice of Munster.

Hit that with more bacon and then top with the other slice of bread. Place a cover on the pan and allow it to steam for a couple of minutes, but be careful not to burn the bread. Once the first side is grilled the way you like it, flip it over and replace the pan cover. Keep checking the bottom to ensure that you don’t burn it and once it’s finished, transfer it to a plate.

Pour a couple of fingers of bourbon into a glass and raise a toast to the G of E!