Who doesn’t have touchstone foods from childhood? My aunt Ruth made the best grilled cheese sandwiches, bar none. Decades before most people in this country had ever heard of panini, she used a waffle iron to make them with buttered caraway rye bread and Muenster cheese. This mouthwatering panino was embossed with square dimples, like crisp inverse croutons, encasing cheese that oozed and crisped at the edges. I thought my aunt invented it, but evidently it was a somewhat widespread Midwestern custom. There is no reason not to make it exactly the way she did, but here is the version I prefer these days.

This recipe is excerpted fromOne Good Dish: The Pleasures of a Simple Meal. Read ourreview.