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You like food. And at this moment — no longer the picky child, not yet the calorie-averse adult — you like food a lot.

You like the hot and salted sack, courtesy of the fast-food drive-through. You like the cold and salted snack, courtesy of the walk-up vending machine. You like the slow-food wafting from the home kitchen and the medium-food hoisted from the restaurant tray to table.

And yet, alone with a cold broccoli branch, a sack of rice and a cupboard full of tall, silent jars, you’re stumped. You know that the raw ingredient can be reformatted delicious, just as the seed can convert to flower and the adolescent into adult. You’re just not sure how.

You possess rudimentary skills. You can compose the PB&J, the cereal&milk, the ramen&spoon. You yearn for something more satisfying, more sophisticated and — if at all possible — French.

Noting that no teacher, no parent, no librarian stands within eyeshot, you consult an actual reference manual. You crack open “I Know How to Cook,” the book that has saved generations of French teens from frozen pizza.

There, in the chapter titled “Milk, Eggs & Cheese,” you meet the croque monsieur. Croque monsieur is a grilled-cheese sandwich. A French grilled-cheese sandwich. A French grilled-cheese sandwich fancy enough to impress and simple enough to meet the culinary emergency — “Angry Birds” standoff, say, or “Glee” marathon.

You trim and layer, tie and toast. Croque, you learn, means crunch, or munch. Eagerly, you crunch. The sandwich munches down hot and buttery, salty and sweet, crisp and chewy. It tastes, deliciously, like know-how.

Leah Eskin is a Tribune special contributor.

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Croque jeune homme/ jeune fille

Prep: 15 minutes

Cook: 8 minutes

Makes: 6 servings

12 slices white bread (stale is best)

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened

1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese

3 ounces (6 slices) ham

1 Slice: Neatly trim crusts from bread.

2 Slather: Spread each slice of bread with butter. Sprinkle each slice of buttered bread with cheese.

3 Stack: Settle 1 slice ham on half the bread slices. Cover with remaining slices (butter and cheese in). Tie together with kitchen string, like a present.

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4 Crisp: Melt the remaining butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the sandwiches and brown, 4 minutes per side. Serve with pride.

Provenance: Adapted from the charming and informative “I Know How to Cook,” by Ginette Mathiot, translated by Clotilde Dusoulier.