Croque-monsieur is a famous French hot sandwich: croquer means “crunch”, monsieur means “lord”. Croque-madame is the same hot sandwich served with a fried egg on top. That is, a croque monsieur is a classic French sandwich with ham, cheese and bechamel sauce. Croque Madame is a sandwich with ham, cheese, bechamel sauce and a fried egg.
Bechamel sauce - how to prepare
An important ingredient in croque madame and croque monsieur is French béchamel sauce. To prepare it, you will need ingredients:
- 550 ml ml milk
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- A pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper (white or black)
- A pinch of ground nutmeg
Melt butter in a frying pan and add flour. Fry for three minutes, stirring constantly. Then add milk, reduce heat and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly (so that there are no lumps in the sauce). The longer you keep the sauce on the fire, the thicker it will become. Strain the finished sauce, add salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
Croque-monsieur sandwich - how to cook
Making a croque monsieur sandwich is fairly easy once you've already prepared the sauce. For this you will need ingredients (for two sandwiches):
- 4 slices of bread
- 2 pieces of ham (you can use 4 - then each sandwich will have not one piece of ham, but two)
- 4 slices hard cheese (Gruyère, Emmental, Maazdam or cheddar)
- Butter
- Olive oil
- Salt, black pepper
Grease the bread slices with butter and fry in a dry frying pan until golden brown on both sides. Then reduce the heat, place a slice of cheese on each piece of bread and cover the pan with a lid to slightly melt the cheese. If necessary, add a little olive oil to the pan. Then place a piece of ham on two pieces of bread and cover with the second piece of bread. Pour the sauce over the finished sandwich and you are ready to serve.
Croque madame sandwich - how to cook
The croque madame sandwich is prepared exactly the same way as the croque monsieur, plus a fried egg. So, while the sandwich is browning in one pan, you need to fry the fried egg in the second pan. The egg is fried on one side, and it is important that the scrambled egg is no larger in size than the bread and that the yolk remains intact. Place the fried egg on the sandwich, pour over the sauce and serve. Bon appetit!
Other ways to make a sandwich
Grease one piece of bread with butter, the second with mustard. Place ham and cheese on the first piece of bread, trim the sides of the ham and cheese. Then brown the sandwich in a frying pan with olive oil on both sides.
You can add grated hard cheese to the sauce - the sauce should turn out like very thick sour cream. Fry the pieces of bread in a frying pan on one side, brush the other side (not toasted) with sauce, put the ham on top and cover with another piece of bread.
The finished sandwich can be sprinkled with grated hard cheese and placed in the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese.
Also, the finished sandwich can be sprinkled with herbs or served with a leaf of green salad.
Traditionally, French gruyere cheese is used for croque madame and croque monsieur, but you can replace it with maazdam cheese, cheddar cheese or other hard cheese. Bon appetit!
One of the most popular versions of the croque-monsieur sandwich is one that consists of sausage and cheese, or rather, in the classic version, ham and Gruyère cheese. There are several versions of its origin. Some people prefer the story of how workers accidentally left their sandwiches on a hot radiator, others like the appearance of the croque monsieur as a chef's invention, etc.
Over time, many sweet and savory croque-monsieurs have emerged: with tomatoes, with salmon, with bananas, with pineapples, and others that are always tasty and crunchy. When I was compiling the book “Street Food from Around the World,” I used a simple quick version of milk and cheese as a sauce, but it tastes more impressive with bechamel sauce, but you need to tinker with it...
p.s. If you put a fried egg on top of a sandwich, it turns into a croque madame))
To prepare a croque monsieur, prepare the ingredients according to the list.
If you decide to make a croque monsieur with béchamel sauce, make sure to make that first. To do this, melt 2 tbsp. tablespoons butter and mix with 1 tbsp. spoon of flour.
Pour in 1 glass of milk while stirring, add a pinch of salt and ground nutmeg. Cook until thickened. Cover the surface of the bechamel sauce with cling film to prevent a drying crust from forming on its surface.
Grate the cheese and divide into three parts. Brush each piece of bread for toast with butter or vegetable oil and, if desired, Dijon or other mustard. Place half of the prepared pieces on a greased baking sheet and sprinkle with the first part of the cheese.
Cover the cheese with ham, ham or other sausage.
Sprinkle with the other half of the cheese and cover with the remaining pieces of bread.
Place the croque-monsieur pieces in an oven preheated to 200 degrees until browned. Then pour the bechamel sauce over the top and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Return to the oven and bake until the cheese is melted and lightly browned.
The croque monsieur is ready, serve immediately.
Bon appetit!
A Croque Madame is a sandwich consisting of two pieces of French toast, ham and cheese, served with a fried egg on top. According to Petit Robert's French dictionary, "Croque-monsieur surmonté d'un œuf sur le plat", which literally translates as "croque monsieur covered with a fried egg, on a plate." First of all, I want to draw your attention to the fact that this wording does not mention bechamel sauce anywhere - neither inside the sandwich nor on its outside. There is also no mention of any meat, including chicken.
Our regular readers will probably remember that not too long ago the French Country Hot Sandwich or Croque Monsieur was already the subject of discussion on our blog, and in case you missed it, this one. Croque monsieur was first mentioned in French fiction (in particular, by Marcel Proust) at the beginning of the last century, but it took its strong place among the famous dishes of French cuisine much earlier - in the second half of the nineteenth century. Croque madame is not much different from croque monsieur, except that during serving, an egg is added to the latter, which is placed on top of the sandwich, and, if croque monsieur is traditionally prepared with sauce (in the authentic version it is), then in croque madame, as a rule, , there is no sauce.
Croque Madame sandwiches gained popularity among the French quite recently by culinary standards - some fifty to sixty years ago.
Despite the fact that this French sandwich is a relatively new phenomenon in French cuisine, it is known and loved not only by the French themselves, but also by Americans. Moreover, it can be seen much more often on the latter’s table. Unlike the French, they are happy to experiment with croque madame, creating more and more new versions of it.
For example, in a 1974 United Press article, American food writer Robert Cohen describes a croque madame as an open sandwich with cheese sauce on ham: “Croque Madame: Each sandwich will require an oblong slice of French bread. It needs to be dried in the oven for about 3-4 minutes. Then remove the bread from the oven and place the roasted ham on it. Spread cheese sauce on top. Prepare the sauce for the croque madame from Swiss cheese, one egg, a tablespoon of flour and one third of a glass of beer. And even if mothers don’t worry about their kids (I’m talking about beer, if anything), French children have been eating Croque Madame for several decades without any visible negative effect. But, if the presence of beer in the sauce still irritates you, you can replace it with milk - this is acceptable. After adding the topping, sprinkle the sandwich with freshly ground pepper. A splash of Tabasco sauce wouldn't hurt either. In the end, all that remains is to brown the croque madame in the oven at a temperature of about 200 degrees for 15 minutes, and when serving, add a fried egg to it.”
In both France and the USA (more often here), ham in croque madame is sometimes replaced with pieces of chicken. In England, this version of this sandwich is more popular than the one made with ham.
In the United States, croque madame, like croque monsieur, is often prepared with Béchamel or Mornay sauce.
Finally, here is another version of the croque madame recipe, which was mostly born in France, a small part in the USA and a very small part (the fried egg was replaced with a poached egg) in our cramped kitchen. 😀
(for four sandwiches)
Ingredients:
- 50 grams butter
- 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 8 thin slices of ham - two slices per sandwich (can be replaced with quality ham sausage)
- 8 thin slices Emmental cheese - two slices per sandwich
- 2 cups Mornay sauce
- 4 large chicken eggs
- 8 slices toast bread
- Coarse sea salt
- Coarsely crushed black pepper
Preparation:
- At first . To do this, we will use the recommendations that you will find in the recipe for this sauce on our blog.
- Spread one side of each slice with butter.
- Place two slices of ham on four slices of bread (dry side) * and the same number of slices of cheese.
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
- Spread the inside of the other four slices of toast bread with Dijon mustard and cover the ham and cheese with the same side.
- Heat a wide, dry frying pan and fry our sandwiches in it over medium heat for a couple of minutes on each side until a golden crust forms.
- To prepare poached eggs, place a large saucepan with 4-5 liters of water over high heat and bring to a boil.
- Place the sandwiches on a baking sheet, pour a fourth of the Mornay sauce over each of them and place in the oven. Cook for about 5-7 minutes until the sauce begins to bubble.
- While the sandwiches are in the oven, let's prepare the poached eggs.
- Place the hot croque madame on serving plates. Place poached eggs on top and serve immediately.
*Note:
There is another option for making croque madame, in which the ham is replaced with fried chicken breast. To do this, cut the two halves of a small breast into two equal parts parallel to the base and beat it very thinly (no more than 3 mm) between two sheets of cling film. Then fry very briefly over medium heat in butter.
Also read on our blog:
Toasts with pork sausages and green garlic
In the names “Croque Monsieur” and “Croque Madame” the second part is clear to everyone and is familiar as an address to a man and a woman in French. What then lies behind the root “krok” and what kind of dishes are with such interesting, even humorous names? It turns out we are talking about hot ham and cheese sandwiches. Krok means “crisp, crunchy.”
As legend testifies, they received their original name thanks to the communication culture of the French. It roughly looked like this. The visitor asks the waiter: “Croque, monsieur.” The waiter brings the order and serves it to the visitor with the words: “Croque, monsieur.” This is how this phrase in its name became attached to the sandwich.
A ham and cheese sandwich can be too simple in any cuisine other than French. The use of Dijon mustard and béchamel sauce, along with crispy slices of bread and juicy toppings, make it taste luxurious.
A croque madame differs from a croque monsieur by having a fried egg on top of the sandwich. It turns out that these scrambled eggs were associated with a French bonnet, which is why the sandwich received a feminine name.
Today there are many variations of these sandwiches, loved by children and adults all over the world. This is a croque Provençal with tomatoes, a croque d'Auvergne with blue cheese, a Norwegian croque with salmon, a croque tartiflette with potatoes, even a Hawaiian croque with pineapple.
Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame - French sandwiches
French breakfast with Croque Monsieur
Today there is a strong sense of nostalgia for France...... I want to give you a recipe for a very common French dish that is often served there for breakfast... It is called Croque Madame or Croque Monsieur. These Croc gentlemen are delicious French sandwiches (local fast food) that are prepared according to the same recipe. With a small but significant difference.
What is the difference between Croque Madame and Croque Monsieur?
The photo of this French breakfast was taken at Freedom Square with my own hand))) I actually ordered Croque Madame... and therefore there should have been 2 eggs on the sandwich, that is, 2 eyes of yolk))) - this is Croque Madame... sort of - two breasts)) And when there is one egg in the scrambled eggs on a sandwich - it’s a Croque Monsieur))) The Gauls cheated me then)))
Croque Monsieur sandwich
What you need for Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame sandwiches
for 2 servings
- 4 slices of rich white bread;
- 3-4 tablespoons butter;
- 6 thin pieces of cheese;
- 2 thin pieces of ham or ham;
- 2 (for Monsieur) or 4 eggs (for Madame);
- Salt and herbs.
How to make Croque Monsieur or Croque Madame
Collect 2 sandwiches
- Spread each piece of bread with a thin layer of butter (on one side) and place a piece of cheese on the butter. Then place 1 piece of ham on 2 pieces of bread. Cover them with the remaining two pieces of bread (butter and cheese side down) and press lightly.
That is, between the pieces of bread you have layers of butter and cheese, tending towards each other. And at the meeting place there is a border, a layer of a piece of ham. Layers: bread, butter, cheese, ham, cheese, butter, bread.
Bake sandwiches in the oven
- Place the sandwiches on a wire rack and bake in an oven preheated to 220 degrees C until the bread is golden brown.
- Turn the sandwich over to the other side. Place a piece of cheese on top. And bake for another 3-4 minutes.
Fry the top of the Croque Monsieur or Madame
Using the remaining butter, fry 2 fried eggs (from 1 or 2 eggs, depending on your culinary fantasies).
Pair a hot fried egg sandwich with a Croque Monsieur or Croque Madame
- Salt the one-eyed or lady's fried egg and place it on the finished sandwiches. Sprinkle with herbs on top.
Bon appetit!
