Growing up we referred to this particular sandwich as a "Toasted Cheese" sandwich. Mom still calls it that. I must admit I've fallen victim to cultural pressure and say "Grilled Cheese" when suggesting, requesting or ordering this simple, yet magnificent, delight. If I'm the designated grilled cheese builder of the day, fresh white bread, butter and Kraft American cheese slices are the norm. Velveeta slices are quite nice for this sandwich, too. In fact I remember Velveeta being the cheese of choice at our house, sliced right off the brick and prepared open-faced under the broiler. Less mess and much faster I suppose. I've heard of people using mayo instead of butter to coat the bread before frying. I've experimented with a second or third variety of cheese incorporated in the build such as baby swiss, colby-jack or mozzarella. One really can't go wrong with cheese. Yet there are some grilled cheese lovers that lean heavily in one direction.
It's easy being cheesy ... as long as you know what cheese to choose. Mashed surveyed over 600 readers to find out the best main ingredient in a great grilled cheese sandwich, and the runaway winner was ... American. 37% of those polled chose the classic yellow favorite, with cheddar finishing a surprisingly close second at 30%. Mild colby jack was the favorite of 15%, with mozzarella hitting the spot for 11% of respondents.