Hi-Melt & THINS: Which Cheese Slice to Use When?
At a glance:
- Hi-melt and THINS cheese slices are the best melting cheese for gourmet burgers and other dishes.
- While selecting the best cheese for your needs, consider its melting ability, flavour, and texture profile.
Just seeing melted cheese oozing out from our burgers makes us forget the world around us and enjoy the burger to the fullest. Cheese is a staple ingredient in burger making and is one of the reasons why those restaurant burgers we eat from time to time are so deliciously mouth-watering. Here in Australia, we love putting cheese (lots of them) on our burgers, and the taste sensation keeps us asking for more. While talking about those delicious restaurant burgers, we can only think of one cheese, American burger cheese.
American cheese slices like hi-melt cheese and THINS burger slices are two of Australia’s most popular burger cheese. Both hi-melt cheese and THINS burger slices have similar features, and both are tasty and versatile. Your burger-making can always exceed your expectations when you have the highest-quality cheese with a good melting ability. If you’re looking for creative and unique ways to add these high-melting cheese to your restaurant burgers, keep reading.
Understanding Hi-Melt Cheese Slices
Hi-melt cheese is a type of American cheese designed to have excellent melting abilities. They have a firm consistency and have a mild Cheddar flavour. They melt smoothly and evenly when heated.
Benefits of using Hi-melt slices
Melting Properties: The main advantage of hi-melt cheese is its excellent melting ability. They maintain their shape and consistency when heated. Besides adding a slice of hi-melt cheese to a cooked patty, you can melt it on the patty while it cooks. This helps to get the best flavour profile for your gourmet burgers.
Easy handling: Hi-melt cheese slices are very easy to handle as they are pre-sliced, and their slices are thicker compared to others. You can directly add slices of hi-melt cheese to your burgers or sandwiches without shredding them further.
Versatility: Hi-melt cheese slices are versatile, and you can use them in varieties of dishes. Also, you can add them on both hold and cold dishes to add a creamy melted layer of cheese to the dish.
Ideal Applications for Hi-melt Slices
Burgers: Hi-melt slices are designed to melt on burgers. When you place them on a burger patty, it melts, forming a creamy, delicious layer of cheese that enhances the flavour and texture of your burgers. This cheese is best for a good mouth feel in burger eating.
Sandwiches: Hi-melt slices are equally good for sandwiches. They melt evenly without breaking and form a smooth and gooey texture that feels so delicious in the mouth.
Understanding THINS Cheese Slices
THINS cheese slices are similar to hi-melt cheese slices but are thinner and more economical versions of hi-melt cheese. They are known for their delicate nature and have mild and distinct cheese flavours.
Benefits of using THINS Slices
Good Melting: THINS slices are a good melting cheese and melt easily due to their thin nature.
Portion Control: Thin cheese slices are thinly cut, and you do not have to shred or grind them further before using them, which gives excellent portion control in commercial kitchens. They are best to use right from the packing.
Ideal applications for THINS slices
Burgers: Due to their good melting point, THINS slices are idle to melt on burgers. It has a mild-firm consistency, and its slightly salty flavour complements a burger any day.
Melty Toppings: Due to their thin, economical cuts, THINS slices are comparatively easy to melt than hi-melt cheese. So they make a perfect topping for dishes like stews, soups, or vegetables.
Factors to consider when choosing between Hi-Melt and THINS slices
Melting ability: If you need cheese that has a high melting point and melts smoothly and evenly, both hi-melt cheese and THIS slices are good options. Compared to hi-melt slices, THINS cheese slices are thinner and quick to melt. To top hot dishes like burgers or sandwiches without needing much to work on cheese melting, you can use THINS slices.
Texture: It is idle to choose a cheese based on the texture you prefer on your dishes. Both hi-melt cheese and THINS slices have a firm texture, but THINS slices are thinner and have a lighter texture. Because of its thicker cut, hi-melt cheese is chewy, while THINS slices have a more delicate and subtle texture.
Application: If you source cheese on a daily basis, it is best to consider what you need it for. If you need thinner cheese slices that are quick to melt on hot dishes like sandwiches or quesadillas, THINS slices are suitable. If you love to melt your cheese with the dish itself and give it time to develop a strong flavour profile, hi-melt cheese is more suitable.
Why is it important to pick the right cheese for your burgers?
The market of Australian gourmet burgers is forever expanding, with so many eateries offering a range of burgers to the locals. In this packed market with a range of options for burger lovers, you should be creative in your kitchen to try your best to keep your customers happy and satisfied with your products. One way to do this is by upgrading your burger game. For this, you have to be very conscious about your cheese selection for burgers.
If you get the basic burger ingredients like cheese right, then you have nothing to worry about. While there are several cheese types in the market, not all are designed for burgers. While some do not melt well on the patty, some do not complement the flavour profile of other burger ingredients, which results in a bland taste and boring burger experience.
Always look for a cheese that has a firm consistency in melting so it does not break easily and leach water while cooking on the patty. A good melting cheese like American cheese melts perfectly, and it has a mild Cheddar flavour that complements the burger ingredients without overpowering them. Start today with American cheese slices for the perfect blend of flavour, texture, and aesthetics in your burgers.
