Jay Rayner’s ultimate cheese toastie recipe

Jay Rayner took inspiration from a Michel Roux dish for this recipe – the XXL stovetop three cheese and mustard toastie at the Wigmore Pub in London.

The Observer restaurant critic described Roux’s creation as “a beautifully engineered, lusciously executed, burnished and bronzed tribute to the carnal love affair between toast and cheese”, when he reviewed the pub in 2021.

It’ll set you back £13.50 at the London establishment, or you could try Rayner’s version at home.

Ultimate cheese toastie

Ingredients
(Makes 2 toasties)

160g Raclette cheese (substitute with Emmental, Appenzeller, Fontina or Gruyère)
80g Montgomery Cheddar (it does not have to be Montgomery, unless you are keen to match the Wigmore kitchen product for product; use
any strong mature Cheddar)
80g Ogleshield cheese (substitute with Taleggio or Fontina)
20g finely chopped red onion
30g finely chopped cornichon
Dijon mustard
4 slices of sourdough bread
Salted butter (the Wigmore uses clarified butter, but I rather like the  caramelisation you get from the dairy solids; you could always use vegetable oil)

Method

1. Grate the cheese, and mix thoroughly in a bowl with the finely chopped red onion and cornichon.

2. Spread a thin layer of Dijon mustard on one internal side of each sandwich.

3. Layer generously with the grated cheese mix, and press down with the second slice of bread. Hilariously, I now appear to be explaining how to use two pieces of bread to make a sandwich..

4. Heat a non-stick or, better still, a well-seasoned cast iron frying pan over a medium heat and add a good knob of the butter. As it melts swirl it around to cover the base of the frying pan. Add the first sandwich and cook over a medium heat for about 4 minutes.

5. Press it down forcefully into the butter with a spatula every now and then. (The Wigmore uses a sandwich press.)

6. After 4 minutes, carefully turn it over on to the other side. The cheese will have started to melt, bonding it all together. Add another knob of butter, and lift the toastie it has now become so you can swirl the newly molten butter in underneath. Cook for another 4 minutes, again pressing it down occasionally.

7. Put on a plate or board and leave to cool for a couple of minutes, as you start to cook the second. At the Wigmore they cut it into 4cm wide slices, which does make it easier to eat.

Nights Out At Home by Jay Rayner is published in hardback by Penguin, priced £22.  Available September 5