MAIN INGREDIENTS
Grilled cheese is a classic American sandwich that is usually prepared with one or more cheese varieties that are placed between two slices of bread. The slices are buttered from the outside, and the sandwich is then shortly heated, typically in a pan or on a griddle, until the bread is golden and the cheese melts.
Although cheese and bread were a common pairing since the early 1900s, and the French have their own, similar Croque Monsieur sandwich, grilled cheese sandwich first appeared in the United States in the 1920s, when it was prepared open-faced, as a slice of bread topped with shredded cheese.
VARIATIONS OF Grilled Cheese
MOST ICONIC Grilled Cheese
These sandwiches typically consist of slices of sandwich bread with cheese in between. The cheese might be sliced or grated, and the sandwiches are then grilled, toasted, or fried so that the cheese melts. Apart from cheese, melt sandwiches can be filled with a variety of other ingredients, but depending on the choice of other ingredients, the sandwiches might become something entirely different, such as tuna melt sandwich (with added tuna and mayonnaise) or patty melt (with added meat patties).
MOST ICONIC Melt Sandwich
Designated as the official dessert of the state of Maryland, Smith Island cake is a layered cake filled with either icing, fudge, cream, and/or crushed candy bars. The best-known variety is the one with yellow layers and a chocolate icing filling, but the recipes vary in the number of layers, and the cakes can be made with various different flavors.
MOST ICONIC Smith Island Cake
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Pit beef is an American barbecue technique originating from Maryland. The technique features beef, usually top round, that's grilled quickly over charcoal, becoming crusty on the exterior while remaining succulent and almost rare on the inside.
The meat is later sliced into thin strips and often used as a sandwich stuffing, preferably on Kaiser rolls or rye bread. The sauce for Maryland pit beef contains horseradish instead of the usual barbecue sauces based on ketchup, vinegar, and brown sugar.
It is believed that pit beef first started gaining popularity in the 1970s in Baltimore's working-class neighborhoods.