What makes comfort food more comforting than ooey, gooey cheese? Melted cheese was an element of many of our childhood favorites, and it can be just as tantalizing now that we’re grown up. But since we’ve long outgrown that bright orange blue box mac and cheese or the “cheese food“-based grilled cheese sandwiches of our youth, here are some ideas for how to make these classics a bit more gourmet. The secret, as you can imagine, is in the cheese — we’ve uncovered (through lots of experimentation) the secret to the best cheese for grilled cheese, mac and cheese, and fondue: three melted cheese favorites. For each delicious cheesy dish, there’s a different cheese combo to make it the best it can be.