Need a quick and easy snack? Well, who doesn’t? We had 3 ingredients on hand for this, cheddar cheese, spicy pickle slices, and Vi’s Spicy Dill Dippin’ Mustard. And all 3 of these items danced in a symphony of deliciousness with savory burnt cheese, dilliness for days, and a fair amount of heat.

Why does burnt cheese taste so damn good?

Time for some white lab coat nerd talk. Technically, burnt cheese is not burnt or carbonized, rather it is browned in a chemical process called the Maillard reaction. The Maillard reaction is a coveted cooking phenomenon where as food browns and caramelizes, the amino acids and sugars are rearranged, producing complex, savory flavors. This chemical reaction gives food umami.