Croque Monsieur/Madame

[Priscilla]

Does anyone else make these at home?  They're a staple in my house, and the deconstructed ingredients would form the basis of any Essentials list I might assemble.

But ah, what ARE the ingredients.  Bread, yes.  Cheese, yes.  Butter, yes.  Ham or chicken, yes.  But after that, the deluge.  Bechamel?  Mustard?  And WHAT ABOUT Madame, is it chicken (instead of ham) or an egg (in addition to ham) that makes it Madame not Monsieur?

And then, technique.  Broiled, open-faced?  Oven-toasted, closed?  Dip the sandwich, as is occasionally suggested, in egg batter, getting close to what I know as a Monte Cristo (which has ham AND chicken, as well as cheese, inside).

I don't always make them the same way, certainly partly because Croque Monsieur is a late-night lifesaver and often subject to stock on hand.

Your thoughts, Hobson?

Priscilla

[edemuth]

The Croque Monsieur is just ham and cheese.  The Croque Madame has the addition of an egg on top... it's her hat, you see!  

[Adam_Balic]

Most Croque Monsiers I have had in France (Paris, Lyon, Cluny, Avignon, elsewhere as well) have had Bechamel as well as cheese/ham. The older recipes I have for them involve frying the bottom in butter, then grilling/broiling the top to melt and brown the gruyere, later recipes simply toast the bread then broil. Croque Madame is an evil blight that needs to be stamped at all cost and I like eggs! What's this talk of chicken?

[Priscilla]

Well, now this is the thing:  Croque Monsieurs I have had in France have, to a sandwich, NOT had bechamel!  (Made 'em last night here at home, avec, however--so see sometimes the Southern California ones DO, turns out.  Had the dread roast chicken on, rather than ham, too.)  No less French an authority than Monsieur Jacques Pepin indicates chicken for his Madame.  I recently saw a recipe from Nancy Silverton of Campanile and La Brea Bakery where she makes a full-on Mornay sauce which is then broiled, which sounds good, doesn't it?  And I think I remember some Patricia Wells citation somewheres in one of her books about a variation with a slice of tomato, which had its own name, too.  Will research.

Priscilla

[Adam_Balic]

Pah! Pretenters one and all

[Jinmyo]

Further, Adam, if it's not gruyere it's not a Croque Monsieur. Bechamel is optional. Mornay? Hmmm... But the bread must first be cooked in a pan on one side then that side layered with gruyere and ham (and perhaps bechamel). The sandwich is returned to the pan and put under a salamander or in the oven, the pan cooking one side, the salamander the other.

I do grilled cheese sandwiches in this way as well.

[Adam_Balic]

Obviously, Gruyere, did I not say Gruyere?

[Jinmyo]

... grilling/broiling the top to melt and brown the gruyere...

You did indeed, as above. But to reiterate: The "cheese" in a Croque Monsieur is gruyere. Othyerwise, it's a grilled cheese sandwich, with or without ham.  

[Priscilla]

Jinmyo, your method is obviously perfection, and, instanteous-like, was adopted by me as my method, too.  By your leave, that is.

But please everybody don't hate me if I sometimes use Emmenthal.

Priscilla

[Jinmyo]

But please everybody don't hate me if I sometimes use Emmenthal.

Priscilla, hate you over cheese? I think not. Anyway, Emmenthal is fabulous. But then it's not a Croque Monsieur. Which is fine. Most things aren't.

[Bux]

Pie is not croque monsieur.

[Jinmyo]

Bux, pie is not Croque Monsieur but Croque Monsieur is pie.