The Doff – Buffalo Cheddar, Chorizo, and Cornbread Grilled Cheese

As I’m sitting on my parents couch, watching the history of Hostess cakes, I realized that up until a few days ago, I’ve never really felt like I just needed to escape from something. Usually I’m fine with staying in a stagnant place until I feel better, but after feeling physically and mentally stuck for two long weeks from a surprisingly devastating hurricane, a isolating nor’easter, and a redundantly crappy relationship with a certain dumdum, I decided that I needed to dip out of New York. I acted on this sudden freak out and impulsively bought a last minute ticket to Florida to recoup at my parents house on the beach.

I don’t know if my bummed-out state of mind stemmed from an unfortunately lame string of events or if it had something to do with seasonal depression, which sometimes happens to me when the sun starts to set at 4:00pm and my southern brain starts to get the blues. But I do know that a quick dip in the Atlantic ocean can make you feel refreshed, a solo bike ride on the beach can make you appreciate things again, and family feasts with your ma and pa, your brother, and his insatiable friends can leave a permanent smile on your face. There’s also the wiggly little body of my family’s dachshund, Ollie, that has made me feel all warm and gooey on the inside. And then there’s the mission of finding the perfect food-related name for the new doggy that I’m in the process of adopting at the Humane Society here in New Smyrna that has gotten me out of my funk. I’m thinking Butters might just be it for this sweet little doxie mix.

And as you can imagine, whenever I come home all my family and friends demand that I make them grilled cheese and although at first I was sort of reluctant for some reason or another, I was reminded that this type of sandwich really does have comforting qualities. I cooked up this sweet and spicy little grilled cheese with inspiration from both the North and the South; crispy sweet cornbread, super spicy buffalo flavored cheddar, sweet Spanish chorizo, and a bright celery salt mayo pack this sandwich full of bright, vibrant, and flaming hot goodness. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

 Ingredients:

– 2/3 cup Yancey’s buffalo wing hot sauce 
   cheddar, shredded
– 1 big chunk of cornbread
– 1/4 cup of browned Spanish chorizo dulce
– 1 tbsp of mayo
– 1 tsp celery salt

To make this bad boy, simply cut your cornbread in half and use the interior of the bread as the exterior of the sandwich. Pile on half the cheese and make sure to taste a little bit, because it’s insanely spicy. 

I think I have a high tolerance level for spicy food so believe me when I say this cheese is hot as a devil’s ding dong. I actually couldn’t believe how spicy it was when I first tested this recipe so if you can’t handle the heat, maybe you should mix half of this with a plain young cheddar. It’ll be just as good – just not as hellish.

Next, pile on all of that sweet chorizo. If you don’t eat pork, you could totally use pulled chicken or something, but I thought if I did that, it would be too similar to my buffalo chicken grilled cheese from a while back.

I chose chorizo because I like how hearty this sausage is and how the texture holds up against the melted cheese and pillowy cornbread.  

Then add the remaining cheese and the other slice of cornbread; interior as exterior once again.

Smear the mayonnaise on the outside and sprinkle half of the celery salt on top. Place the sandwich mayo-side down and repeat on the other surface.

Over medium high heat, cook your sammich until the cheese has started to melt and the cornbread begins to toast up. If you have a press, I would recommend heating it up until it’s piping hot and then placing it on top so the ingredients are smashed together and forced to infuse all of the flavors into one delicious gooey mess.

Make sure to flip and repeat!

Let it sit for a few minutes before you dig in so that the cheese glues the cornbread and sausage together and makes your sandwich more solid.

Also, here’s a link to the puppy that I’m adopting. His name is Emerson but that’s only because they found him and he didn’t have a name. I don’t think it’s very fitting, so if you have any ideas for awesome food names, I’d be forever appreciative if you’d send ’em my way. Thanks y’all.

xoxo,

GCS