The Cheap, Classic Cheese Bobby Flay Isn't Afraid To Use On Burgers

Chefs, home cooks, and outdoor grillers alike often unfairly malign American cheese because it's so cheap. But not Food Network's resident everyman (non-frosted tips category), Bobby Flay. In a TikTok clip, Flay tops a big batch of burgers with none other than the occasionally hated, individually wrapped, typically affordable squares of good, old American.

Although this particular video is absent any chatter, Flay's girlfriend and fellow Food Network Star Brook Williamson can be seen at one point unwrapping slices of white American cheese, placing them two-by-two in cross stacks to make it easy for Flay to set them on top of the 12 juicy burgers he has going on the grill.  

Flay has previously extolled the virtues of this divisive dairy product, which many complain is just too processed, too basic, and too fake. Much as he does when washing his chicken, Flay eschews the naysayers to take a braver position. "When it gets right down to it, I want American cheese on my burger, because it melts well and it reminds me of my childhood," he is quoted as saying in a Food Network roundup of his broader burger wisdom. That nostalgia factor alone may win back some others who have strayed from American cheese's nostalgic call, especially given that its melt factor makes it objectively ideal on burgers.

Remembrance of youthful cookouts aside, most people look for a burger cheese with meltability. American cheese's low melting point means that it becomes gooey at a relatively low temperature and doesn't require the direct broiler flame some varieties require to soften. That also means that it can get good and oozy in the relatively brief amount of time it takes to cook a burger without overcooking it. Its mild flavor and creamy texture make it shine alongside those patties too. The only difference between the classic yellow American cheese and the white variety  Flay uses in the TikTok clip is the latter's absence of dye, so the same goes for both kinds on all accounts.

You can also guarantee a satisfyingly uniform cheeseburger melt by doming the beef, as Flay does in this TikTok clip. The fairly common trick involves squirting a bit of water onto your hot cooking surface before covering it with a dome or upside-down bowl to trap steam inside and help the cheese reach the yielding, oozy state you aim to achieve. The trick works with other low-melting point cheeses too, but forget about cheddar. That's the one cheese that you won't see Bobby Flay even trying to melt on his burgers.