Croque Monsieur
Croque monsieur appeared on Parisian café menus around 1910, a quick and filling lunch — toasted bread, ham and melted emmental or gruyère on top. Its modern form, crowned with béchamel and finished under the broiler, settled in during the first half of the 20th century and was canonised by Larousse Gastronomique. The name — 'the gentleman who crunches' — comes from the noise the crust makes on the first bite. The version with a fried egg on top is called croque madame; the shift from 'monsieur' to 'madame' is attributed, by legend, to the resemblance of the egg to a lady's plumed hat. Today they are both bistro standards: pain de mie, jambon de Paris, gruyère or comté, Dijon mustard and béchamel — that is the whole list.
Parisian café classic
On the menu since around 1910, canonised by Larousse
Gruyère or Comté
Hard alpine cheese — the only kind that gives the right stretchy crust
Béchamel on top
Sauce browns into a crust, the melted cheese bubbles underneath
Add an egg for madame
Same recipe, with a fried egg slipped on top
Ingredients 4 servings
- 8 thick slices of pain de mie (soft white sandwich bread), one day old
- 80 g unsalted butter, softened, plus 30 g for the béchamel
- 200 g Gruyère or Comté, finely grated
- 4 slices of jambon de Paris (~120 g total)
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 30 g plain flour and 300 ml whole milk (for the béchamel)
- Fine sea salt, white pepper, a grating of nutmeg
How to make it
- 1Melt the 30 g béchamel butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisk in the flour and cook 1–2 minutes without colouring, then pour the warm milk in gradually while whisking constantly and simmer gently 4–5 minutes, stirring often, until thick enough to hold a peak on the spoon — season with salt, white pepper and nutmeg and keep warm.
- 2Preheat the broiler (top grill) to high, butter both sides of every bread slice with the softened butter, then thinly spread Dijon on the inner face of one slice per sandwich.
- 3Lay 4 buttered slices on a lined tray, top each with a thin layer of grated Gruyère (hold ~60 g back for the top), a slice of ham and another thin layer of cheese, then close with the remaining 4 slices, mustard side in, and press lightly.
- 4Spoon 2 heaped tablespoons of béchamel over each sandwich right to the edges so the bread is fully covered and the sauce runs a little down the sides, scatter the reserved Gruyère on top and slide the tray under the hot broiler for 4–6 minutes, watching closely, until the béchamel is bubbling and deeply browned in patches and the cheese is molten — the bread crisps from below from the butter already gripped to its underside.
- 5Lift out, rest 30 seconds — the cheese would stick to you otherwise — and cut on the diagonal; for a croque madame, fry an egg in a little butter while the sandwiches are under the broiler and slip it on top just before serving.
Nutritional info
per serving (~350 g)
Estimated nutritional values.
Pairs perfectly with
