Recreate The Most Expensive Sandwich In The World For A Fraction Of The Price

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The restaurant industry is always looking for ways to justify higher prices and attract patrons with deeper pockets. Some places use gimmicks like a sundae with a diamond ring on the side. Others rely on expensive ingredients — like gold flakes — for looks or for more complex taste experiences. The Quintessential Grilled Cheese at Serendipity 3 is the latter, and it earned the New York restaurant the Guinness World Record for the most expensive sandwich. The good news is that while you may not be able to duplicate it exactly, you can make your own version at a fraction of the $214 price tag. 

Before recreating this opulent golden delicacy, you should know exactly what's in the sandwich that requires a 48-hour advance request so the staff can round up all the ingredients. It starts with a sparkling-wine-and-gold-flake-infused French bread made from scratch using Dom Perignon Champagne, which retails for around $250. The outside surfaces of the bread are brushed with white truffle oil and gold flakes, while the inside of the bread is slathered with white truffle butter, which, you guessed it, also uses gold flakes. 

The cheese in Serendipity 3's sandwich is possibly as rare as it gets: caciocavallo podolico. The cheese is aged in a cave and comes from a limited group of free-range, grass-fed Italian cows that split their time between the high and low altitudes of central Italy. It should be no surprise to hear that it sells online for $53 a pound. Your plate also gets a side of South African lobster tomato bisque. The sandwich is a prime example of excess and scarcity but thankfully, you can get close to it for much less than the Serendipity 3 experience.

When recreating your own version of the Quintessential Grilled Cheese, you gotta start with the cheese. Caciocavallo podolico is complex, acquiring nut, fruit, and herbal notes from the diets of the cows freely grazing in southern Italy. While not Italian, Gruyère offers similar nutty notes and adds a complex artisan flavor that melts decadently in a grilled cheese. You can usually order a half-pound of the Swiss stuff for $24.95 or pick up American-made Gruyère, like the Boar's Head Gruyère from Wisconsin, for less.

If baking isn't your thing, you can grab a roll of French bread from a local bakery. But if you plan to DIY, there are two key ingredients to work into your recipe. Instead of Dom Perignon, go with less expensive alternatives like Crémant or Pétillant Naturel. The other is edible gold flakes, which you'll use in the bread but also in your oil and butter and to adorn the cut edges of your sandwich. Edible gold leaf should only set you back $10 on Amazon. 

Instead of oil, whip up a truffle mayo and use it for crispy edges. After the thin layer of mayo, you can also make homemade truffle butter to butter the surface of your bread. Both the oil and butter used on the Quintessential Grilled Cheese use white truffles, which can go for $500 for just one ounce! Thankfully, you can pick up a 1.4-ounce jar of Sabatino black truffles on Amazon for $20 to $30. A little always goes a long way with truffles, but that's doubly true for black truffles, which have a more pungent flavor.

The final touch to complete any grilled cheese meal is a tangy tomato soup for dipping. In the case of the Quintessential Grilled Cheese, that's actually a South African lobster tomato bisque. A tomato bisque alone won't set you back much, as tomatoes and heavy cream are the main ingredients. South African lobster is another story. One 6-ounce lobster tail costs around $60, depending on market price. However, you can find fresh Maine lobster tails online or in-store for around $10 to $15, depending on market price.

Your homemade Quintessential Grilled Cheese won't break a Guinness World Record, but you'll have a grilled cheese sandwich that costs a lot less and is much more than just white bread and a cheese square. Following these suggestions, you'll be able to replicate Serendipity 3's creation a few times without spending $214, and as a bonus, you'll have fresh mimosas to go with it thanks to the leftover sparkling wine. Whether you're making a special breakfast for your family or having an intimate Sunday brunch, this meal is sure to make it a memorable morning.