Jack in the Box reinvents iconic American sandwich. We tried it. We have thoughts.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to make Jack in the Box’s new Philly cheesesteak sandwich, a limited-time offering that is in its restaurants now through September.

To demonstrate, the company’s head chef, Ciarán Duffy, gave a cooking class to 10 social media influencers and food journalists Wednesday morning at a giant industrial kitchen deep inside the company’s San Diego headquarters.

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The right way, to this fast-food cooking outsider, seems to be about ingredients — shaved ribeye steak, glistening onions, charbroiled peppers, a smear of mayo — and process.

“Remember, it’s a light, fluffy bread, so you don’t have to get aggressive with it,” Duffy said as he lowered a buttered hoagie roll face down onto a sizzling griddle.

Five minutes later, as he assembled the hot sandwich, he had a tip about cheese.

“You want to shingle it,” Duffy said as he quickly and carefully overlapped three meltable white squares just so, with the pointy bits sticking out for extra style points.

It was time for the visitors to make their own.

Most came out looking like Duffy’s.

“You’re hired,” he told one guest.

The wrong way — dropping in the meat and veggies onto the toasted bread before the cheese, and then pushing the meat out of the way to try to rescue your sandwich and somehow stuffing the cheese in before you close your sandwich and hope for the best, as this reporter did — is also super gooey and melt-alicious, it turns out.

Jack in the Box’s cheesesteak, in its media presentation form, was hefty for a fast-food sandwich, eyeballed at approximately 7 inches long and packed with protein. It hit the golden trio of a good fast-food sandwich: meat, cheese and heat.

That’s the point of this new item, and a lot of other things on Jack in the Box’s current menu: It’s about giving people value. Not just cheap food, but satisfaction, said Natalie Neyman, the company’s senior director for product marketing and menu.

The hope is that customers will say, “I can feel really good about the money that I spent,” Neyman said.

This cheesesteak starts at $11.99. It can be added to a Jack’s Munchie Meal, which is available at night and includes two tacos, an entree, curly fries and a drink. That costs $13 or $14, depending on the market, or $15 or $16 with the Philly cheesesteak as an upgrade.

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For a smaller, cheaper bite, the Philly-Style Bonus Jack is a burger with peppers, onions and cheese. That starts at $4.99, or it can be part of the basic Jack’s Munchie Meal.

During Wednesday’s media tour, Jack in the Box’s team used the word “innovation” quite a few times — not surprising for a chain that created the Hot Mess Burger, the Sriracha Curly Fry Burger and the Chicken Tater Melt. (It also promised to unveil a zany collaboration this fall.)

So then, why cheesesteak?

Because — classic.

Jack in the Box turned 75 this year, and the company has been leaning into nostalgia with throwback ads, vintage packaging and merchandise that evokes its Jack antenna topper. It launched new products, like bag charms and bobble heads, because Jack in the Box, founded in 1951, has long outlived the car radio antenna.

The cheesesteak has similar staying power.

“Philly is probably the king of hot sandwiches,” Duffy said, before taking a quick detour into the history of the sandwich. “We just wanted to pay homage to what is really a fantastic sandwich. We just wanted to make sure we did it right. We’ve done our own twist on it.”

As some influencers filmed and photographed themselves and their food while cooking (and later eating), Duffy, a fast-food sandwich expert who was Subway’s head chef before coming to Jack in the Box, gave a hint of what it’s like to actually cook these sandwiches on the clock.

“We want to be consistent, make sure everybody gets the same sandwich,” he said. “Remember, you’re sharing the space.” He also reminded people to stay safe.

Ingredients are “cooked together on the flat-top for maximum flavor integration experience while maintaining the speed and consistency expected from Jack in the Box,” a fact sheet about the sandwich also says.

So the process is about more than the order of meat versus cheese. It’s about being able to make identical sandwiches — fast.

And now for the review. Context: This reporter has eaten multiple cheesesteaks on trips to Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. San Diego favorites include Evan’s Deli & Brew in Loma Portal, Dougie’s Best food truck and the long departed Small Bar’s cheesesteak.

Jack in the Box’s Philly cheesesteak, as presented at the headquarters, holds its own.

There are not as many customizations here as at a cheesesteak specialty shop. No whiz, mushrooms or hot peppers, for those so inclined.

But what it is not may be as important as what it is.

This meat was browned, thin, tender and not floppy, chunky, chewy or steamed, as at some other places in San Diego that sell what they call cheesesteak sandwiches.

The cheese had good melt. It was not a dense, solid mass.

The bread was soft, not a dry cardboard sponge.

Duffy called it “our twist” on the cheesesteak, but this is a faithful rendering, adapted for a fast-food kitchen to be produced quickly and consistently, yet surprisingly close to the source. Granted, what reporters and influencers are fed at headquarters might be different from what comes out of the fast-food window, so consumers will have the last word.