The big cheese： Grilled sandwich goes from humble to high end (1/3ページ)

It's the most humble of comfort foods, consisting of just bread, cheese and butter in its purest form, but it can go gourmet, too.

It's one of the first foods kids learn to make and one that grown-ups still savor when on the run or feeling under the weather.

Grilled cheese, please.

This simple but soul-satisfying sandwich debuted in modern form in the 1920s as an open-faced melt, according the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. Now, Americans make 2.2 billion grilled-cheese sandwiches at home each year, the board reports.

With endless possible combinations of cheese, bread and bonus ingredients, grilled cheese sustains the average Joe seeking diner food and the gourmet seeking finer food. From quesadillas to panini, every culture seems to have a variation.

Interestingly, American sandwich makers didn't add the second slice of bread until the 1960s, according to the milk marketers.

Voila! A classic was born - sliced by mom on the diagonal, of course.

"I absolutely never cut across," declares Cathy Campbell of Fort Myers.

Her favorite combo is Swiss cheese and horseradish sauce on rye bread, but Campbell still enjoys the original model made with American cheese, too.