A cheese melt is a simple, indulgent dish where slices of bread base are topped with generous amounts of cheese and sometimes extras like ham, tomato or onion, then heated until the cheese bubbles and browns into gooey, stretchy deliciousness. My fiery spicy version has the cheese filling his with gocuchang (a sticky, spicy savoury Korean fermented red chilli paste), chilli oil and then some spring onion with texture and bite.

For the cheeses I use gruyère, which brings nutty, slightly sweet complexity with a hint of savoury earthiness. It melts luxuriously, stretching into glossy ribbons and coating your tongue with a rounded, buttery mouthfeel. Then the tasty cheese (Australian Tasty) brings bold, straightforward cheddar punch, sharp, salty, and unapologetically cheesy.

Together they create a balanced depth. Gruyère’s subtlety and Tasty’s punch play off each other so the flavour is complex without being fussy. The gruyère gives silk and stretch whereas the tasty gives firmness and that nostalgic cheesy hit.