Irish Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Guinness

This sublime Irish grilled cheese sandwich recipe  begins with bacon that has been caramelized with Guinness, then spread with a paste of jam, Guinness and mustard. Add some Irish cheese and two slices of Irish soda bread and you have a grilled cheese masterpiece!

This Irish grilled cheese sandwich recipe is perfect any time of day, but it makes a sublime breakfast sandwich and is a great way to start the day.

Or end it, for that matter. And if you’ve been swilling beer all day, this Irish grilled cheese sandwich is ideal to counteract all that liquid in your tummy!

The weird thing is  I hated toasted cheese sandwiches when I was a kid. Perhaps it was because there were only three cheeses in our home.

Mom always bought those orange plastic American slices that I never liked, however I  remember my brother peeling off the plastic and shoving them into his mouth, one slice at a time.

I remember sliced Muenster that my Dad would melt on toast for breakfast. And I remember Colby-which is a cross between Cheddar and Monterey Jack.

I never ate cheese on sandwiches. I never ate it on burgers. (Yes, I ate burgers back then.) I didn’t eat Mac n’ cheese. I didn’t even sprinkle the cheese from THE can on my spaghetti.

Truly I do not remember when I discovered grilled cheese. Or when I discovered bacon. This however is a post on cheese. Irish grilled cheese, that is. I was so excited when I went to our newly reopened grocery store last week. They have entered the modern era with a real cheese shop! Then I discovered that Irish Soda Bread was back. You have no idea how deliriously happy that made me.

It was just last year that I bought my first loaf. I’d never eaten Irish Soda Bread before that. I then went home and made a loaf from a James Beard recipe and I couldn’t believe it, but I loved the store version more.

I admit to not liking that I couldn’t pronounce half the ingredients, but really people, this is good bread. Maybe it isn’t really Irish soda bread, but it tastes as Irish as any soda bread I’ll ever eat.

So the bread. Damn, the bread. The next time I go to the store I am going to buy like 5 loaves and freeze it, because I’ve only found it in March! It is dense. It is slightly sweet, And it has raisins in it. Oh. I almost forgot. It has Demerara sugar sprinkled on the outside of the loaf.

This is a very good thing and I’ll tell you why. When you make the best Irish grilled cheese sandwich ever (Hence the name!) the sugar on the outside starts to melt a bit. It starts to even burn a little bit. And it gets all caramelly on the outside. And the aroma? So enticing. And well, I’ll let you guess how good that tastes.

 But I kind of veered off track and forgot to tell you about the cheese. It is so easy to do when drinking Guinness in the middle of the day. I think one good reason to make this grilled cheese sandwich recipe is because it lets you start your day off with beer. (Well, I didn’t want to waste it!)

But back to cheese…Being close to St. Patrick’s Day, the store was featuring Irish cheese. I love cheese and honestly, I’ve not eaten a lot of Irish cheese.

Well, I came home with three kinds. An Irish whiskey cheese that was mellow and rich. Probably tastes a lot like you’d feel after tipping a few.

I came home with a Dubliner stout, which was very fragrant with the aroma of stout. Probably like you’d smell after tipping a few; stouts, that is! And last but not least, I arrived home with a simple sweet Irish cheddar, which is probably what you’d be like after not tipping any! (But that’s not fun!)

So no, this isn’t a post about corned beef. Or potatoes. Though there’s nothing wrong with either.

This is a post about Irish cheese. And good soda bread. And bacon. I did vaguely mention that, didn’t I? Glazed baked crispy bacon with Guinness and pepper that magically becomes spicy and sweet. Well, since my original thought was to make this an Irish breakfast sandwich, I thought bacon would work. Now Irish bacon doesn’t get good and crisp, which is the only way I like my bacon by the way, but you decide; how you like your bacon, that is..

 So just make this Irish grilled cheese sandwich with bacon. It could be the best part of your day!

More to Try:

 Irish Corned Beef, Potato and Cabbage Pie

Irish Buttermilk and Leek Pie with Bacon

Irish Nachos

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