16 May 2018

Mon croque-monsieur, mon pain de mie

Isn't croque-monsieur a funny name for a grilled ham-and-cheese sandwich? In this sense, the French verb croquer means "to bite, to crunch" with your teeth, as in eating toasted bread. Croquer une pomme means "to bite into an apple." So the sandwich is one that a Frenchman (un monsieur) might bite into and crunch on. There's also a sandwich called a croque-madame, which is the same thing but more elegant and fancy, with a sunnyside-up egg on top.


An aside: When Walt was a student in Paris in 1981, he lived in a boarding house (une pension de famille) for a few months. One of the employees there was an older man who didn't appear to be in great health and who staggered around the place with a lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth. The American students called him "croak monsieur" because they thought he might croak at any minute.


Anyway, I made croque-monsieur sandwiches yesterday, using slices of that loaf of pain de mie ("sandwich bread") I made on Monday. Such sandwiches are a café standard in France, especially in Paris, as a snack or a quick lunch. There's nothing very complicated about them. Sliced bread, sliced ham (jambon blanc a.k.a. jambon de Paris), and grated cheese (Gruyère, Comté, Emmental, or even Cantal). Toasted. You eat it with a knife and fork.


The most complicated part of making a croque-monsieur, assuming your bought your bread at the supermarché or in a boulangerie, is making a sauce béchamel. That sauce replaces the mayonnaise that we might put on a ham-and-cheese sandwich in the U.S. Béchamel is a white sauce made with butter, flour, and milk. You spread some on the bread inside the sandwich and on the top, before you sprinkle the grated cheese on it (there's cheese inside too). Then you stick the sandwich in the oven and bake it until the cheese on top is slightly browned.

There's something I didn't tell you about the loaf of pain de mie that I made on Monday. I used three kinds of flour: 150 grams of French farine de blé dur (bread flour), 300 grams of French farine type 55 (all-purpose flour), and 150 grams of American white corn meal (brought back from a trip to North Carolina). It's an interesting bread, but certainly not traditional. It made a good croque-monsieur anyway.

Here's a link to a recipe in French for the type of croque-monsieur I made, with photos.

21 comments:

  1. This looks loke a big success. Your pain de mie looks delicious.

    I don't think what was called jambon blanc in the old days exists any longer. It was really whitish or rather grayish and not pink as the one on your photos. And the taste was different from the pinkish variety available tiday.

    Since I've been coming back to France regularly, I haven't seen real jambon blanc in stores.

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  2. Well, everybody calls it jambon blanc anyway.

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    1. I knew that people weren't that bright!

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    2. Here's another recent article about jambon blanc. CHM, the French language has changed a lot since you last lived here! As somebody who has learned French as an adult, I find that it helps to try to speak the way people actually speak now in order to be understood. And don't underestimate people. A lot of them are not that dumb.

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    3. What you call jambon blanc or jambon de Paris has nothing to do with the real thing. What you’re talking about is jambon industriel loaded with chemicals for preservation and appeal to the eye, and who knows what else!

      Here is a link about real jambon de Paris.

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    4. Thanks, CHM. If only we could still live in a pre-industrial food era. Fact is, jambon blanc is a category of ham products distinguished from jambon cru, jambon de pays, jambon sec, etc. If the jambon blanc you're talking about doesn't exist any more, what's the point?

      Years ago I went into a charcuterie in Saint-Aignan and told the woman behind the counter that I wanted four slices of jambon — jambon de Paris. Je n'en ai pas, she told me. J'ai du jambon de Saint-Aignan. C;est fait maison.

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    5. Here's a YouTube video about real jambon de Paris. "Real" really is a relative term, isn't it? Il y a du vrai, du faux, du vrai faux, du faux vrai, du vrai vrai, et du faux faux. Pourquoi faire simple?

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  3. The bread looks wonderful. And now I know exactly how to make a croque monsieur. I've heard the term used for just a ham and cheese toasted snadwich here. NOT the same at all.

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    1. The best croque-monsieur would of course be made with "real" ham, "real" cheese, and "real" bread, LOL. And the béchamel sauce would be made with "real" flour, "real" milk, and "real" butter from a "real" churn. Wouldn't that be a beautiful world? I'd be broke in just a few days.

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    2. Sorry, I got carried away. CHM does that to me. I think my croque-monsieur, including the "industrial" ham on the sandwich, was very good. And I don't think I'm "not that bright." I try to live in the real world.

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    3. You seem to make only 'real food' from what I've read. Cannot imagine you using instant bechamel from a packet or anything such as margarine.
      Bechamel, the real thing that is, just lifts this 'toast' up a level.
      All ham is called 'jambon' in greek. interesting reading about the comments

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  4. Bechamel has its place, but I think it is a little boring on a sandwich. I would ask for mayo. Your sandwiches look great.

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    1. I'm not sure mayo would be the best choice on a sandwich that is toasted in the oven. Some recipes for croque-monsieur call for spreading crème fraîche on the bread slices instead of béchamel. Saying béchamel is boring is like saying bread is boring...

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  5. Oh, my! This is a very informative set of comments today! LOL
    Thanks for the recipe and the photos. Yours looks great! I'll bet that the pain de mie that you made with a little cornmeal has a great flavor and was perfect for a crunchy sandwich like this (and, I think the Béchamel adds a really nice flavor to the sandwich, Andrew).
    Judy

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    1. I agree with you, J. And when Andrew said he would ask for mayonnaise on his, I don't think he realizes that you can't have your food customized to that extent here in France the way you can in "anglo-saxon" countries.

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  6. The "sandwiches" look delicious! 😊 That is a nice loaf of bread too!

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  7. I didn't realize that the croque-monsieur (autocorrect wanted to use "croquet") had cheese on the outside, too. It looks delish.

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    1. I could have put on even more béchamel sauce — I didn't make enough! More sauce means a sandwich that is not as dry but still has some crunch.

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  8. Wonderful post and conversation today. Food changes with time, we just go with the flow and enjoy the great variety of choices we have in this day and age. Bravo for your complicated tasty pain de mie, Ken.

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