Croque-madame
When it comes to lunch, most of us will opt for a sandwich! It’s a great finger food plus there are so many variations to making them. It can be a French Dip, Club, Tuna Melt, Gyros, or a meatless one like Egg Sandwich, Pimento Cheese or simply a Grilled Cheese.
Each country has their own popular sandwiches. If we take Spain for an example, they love their Sándwich Mixto (an elevated grilled cheese sandwich) or Bocadillo de Tortilla. In UK, they have their famous Tea sandwiches as well as the Bacon ones while in Italy, they enjoy their Mozzarella di Bufala e Pomodoro and Piadina. Now if we focus on France, here are the top ones: Jambon-beurre, Pan Bagnat, Pâté Cornichon, Croque-monsieur and its upgraded version… Croque-madame!
What’s really the difference between these two? Not much besides the Croque-madame has a fried egg on top of the sandwich. When you think about it, it looks like a lady’s wide-brimmed hat. It’s made with almost the same ingredients although my Québec Croque-monsieur version has smoked meat in it!
Both have ham but the traditional meat used for these recipes including the popular Jambon-Beurre is called Jambon Blanc also known as Jambon de Paris. It’s an unsmoked, fully cooked ham lightly salted. It’s very moist and flavorful because it’s wet cured and slowly cooked in a lovely brine made with vegetable broth, herbs and spices. Here in North America it’s almost impossible to find it so the best alternative is to find a low-sodium ham that hasn’t been smoked or dry cured. Prosciutto Cotto (not Crudo) is a good choice and so is Boston Ham. If you go online, you can find some but at a ridiculous price. The last alternative is to cook it yourself which I’ll show you in the near future.
I love using Gruyère over any other cheese as it’s so flavorful. If you want something milder, go with Comté. To prevent it from falling all over the place, I add a little bit of milk and stir it until well absorbed. By adding moisture, it keeps the cheese together. I also add the usual suspects to the cheese mixture which are freshly ground nutmeg, salt and pepper.
What really makes this Croque-madame (as well as Croque-monsieur) so delightful is the beautiful Béchamel Sauce. When making it, it’s important to keep in mind that the texture of the sauce has to be thicker so after it’s chilled, we can spread it like butter which is a zillion times tastier – I’m salivating just thinking about it! What can I say, we French people, love our sauces and we always challenge ourselves to take something great to a higher level of yumminess… it’s an obsession!
When it comes to bread, there are a few choices to choose from. You can opt for French bread, Sourdough or even Brioche. I like to slice it about ¾-inch thick – don’t go thicker or thinner. The “already” sliced bread is in my opinion too thin plus I believe your Croque-madame deserves a more upscale bread.
Sunny-side up is the style of egg that is placed on top when the sandwich comes out from the oven with melted and golden cheese. After the eggs are cracked, it takes about 2 minutes on medium heat for the whites to be almost set. From there, what I do is to cover and let them cook for ONLY 30 seconds, that’s all! That’s plenty of time to not overdo the whites while cooking the yolks a little more.
The beauty of this Croque-madame is it can be enjoyed for lunch as well as for dinner – and why not for breakfast as well! This is a notch higher than the popular Croque-monsieur and that is why this sandwich is in my top 5!
Here are more delicious sandwich recipes for you to try…
– Stuffed Baguettes
– Mexican Chicken Sub
– Slow Cooker BBQ Sloppy Joes
– Shrimp Salad Sandwich
– Grilled Brie, Ham & Pear Sandwich
– Nacho Cheese Sandwich
and for even more sandwich recipes, click on this link… Recipe Category • Sandwiches
Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel by clicking on this link… Club Foody YouTube
Croque-madame
Hover to scale
Ingredients
BÉCHAMEL SAUCE
- 2 tbsp. butter tips & tricks
- 2 tbsp. unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup milk, or as needed
- 1 small pinch ground Himalayan sea salt
SANDWICH
- 2 cups Gruyère cheese (substitute Comté, Emmental or Swiss cheese), grated and divided
- 3 tbsp. milk
- 1/16 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. ground Himalayan sea salt, divided
- 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, divided (I always use mixed peppercorns)
- 4 slices bread such as French bread or Brioche Footnote
- 2 tbsp. Dijon mustard, or as needed
- 6 slices ham such as jambon blanc
- 1 tbsp. butter
- 2 large free-range eggs, room temperature
Directions
BÉCHAMEL SAUCE
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, add butter. When melted, add flour and whisk for a few minutes to cook out the raw taste.
- Add 2 tbsp. cold milk, and whisk constantly until the mixture gets thick. Add 1 tbsp. cold milk at a time, whisking between each addition. Continue adding milk until the consistency of the sauce gets creamy but not too thin so it's spreadable.
- Transfer the sauce to a small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap making sure it touches the surface to prevent skin formation and chill for at least 20 minutes.
SANDWICHES
- Preheat oven to 400ºF/200ºC and cover a baking sheet with foil; set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine grated Gruyère, milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper; stir until cheese has absorbed the milk and set aside.
- Spread a thin layer of chilled béchamel on two slices. Spread Dijon mustard on the other two. Place 3 slices of ham on the sauce before spreading on half of the cheese mixture. Cover with the other two slices, mustard side down and then press gently.
- Spread the remaining béchamel sauce on top of those 2 slices. Add the remaining cheese and place the sandwiches on the prepared baking sheet.
- Transfer to the preheated oven and bake until golden, about 10 to 12 minutes.
- About 5 minutes before time is up, melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. When melted and it starts sizzling, crack the eggs; season with salt and pepper.
- After 2 minutes when the whites are almost set, cover and cook for just 30 seconds.
- Place one cooked egg on each sandwich and serve immediately with a salad.
Notes
Don't forget to rate and comment on this recipe!
