History

The dish first appears on a Paris cafe menu in 1910, at a Boulevard des Capucines establishment whose proprietor put grilled ham-and-cheese sandwiches on the carte to feed the lunchtime crowd. The béchamel-topped form, distinct from a simple grilled sandwich, was codified by 1925. Le Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots in Saint-Germain serve €18 versions that have not changed shape in fifty years. The home version is forgiving: any decent jambon, any decent Gruyère, a 5-minute béchamel, three minutes under a hot grill. Add a fried egg on top and it becomes a croque-madame.

Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Pork

Make it at home

Yield 2Hands-on 15 minTotal 25 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 4 slices brioche or pain de mie, 1.5cm thick
  • 4 slices good jambon de Paris (cured ham)
  • 150g Gruyère, grated
  • For the béchamel: 30g unsalted butter, 30g plain flour, 250ml whole milk, freshly grated nutmeg, salt, white pepper
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Method

  1. Make the béchamel: melt the butter, whisk in the flour, cook 2 minutes without colouring. Whisk in the warm milk a third at a time. Cook until thickened, season with nutmeg, salt and white pepper, stir in the mustard. Cover with a piece of buttered paper and set aside.
  2. Preheat the grill to high.
  3. Toast the brioche on both sides until pale gold.
  4. Spread a thin layer of béchamel on two slices. Top each with 2 slices of ham and a third of the grated Gruyère. Close the sandwiches.
  5. Spread the top with a generous layer of béchamel, scatter the remaining Gruyère across the top.
  6. Grill on a baking sheet 8cm from the heat for 3 to 4 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and deep gold. Serve immediately, knife and fork.

Tip from the editors. For a croque-madame, fry an egg in butter and slide it onto the finished croque before serving. Salt the egg, not the sandwich.

Where to eat croque-monsieur

Croque-monsieur in Paris

Café de Flore ★ 4.0

Café€Daily 07:30-01:30Wifi

Café de Flore in Paris is the Saint-Germain literary cafe Sartre and de Beauvoir made famous. Order the café crème. At 172 Boulevard Saint-Germain.

Signature drink: Café crème

Tip: The first-floor mezzanine is quieter than the terrace. Order the chocolat chaud in winter.

172 Boulevard Saint-Germain, 75006 Paris

Le Petit Cler ★ 3.9

French Bistro€€7eDaily 08:00-01:00

Le Petit Cler in Paris sits on Rue Cler, the embassy market street, and runs an all-day bistro carte of croque-monsieur, steak frites and Lyonnais salads.

Signature: Croque-monsieur, Steak frites

Order: Croque-monsieur at lunch, steak frites at dinner, a glass of Brouilly.

Tip: The terrace catches sun until 19:00 in summer; the back room is the warmer winter pick.

29 Rue Cler, 75007 Paris

Le Petit Vendôme ★ 4.3

French bistro€Mon 08:30-15:30; Tue-Fri 08:30-02:00; Sat 08:30-17:00; closed Sun

Le Petit Vendôme in Paris pulls baguette tradition split lengthwise, butter and Bayonne ham, for under €6. The classic Parisian counter sandwich.

Try: Jambon-beurre

Tip: Closed weekends. Take the sandwich to the Tuileries gardens five minutes south by foot.

8 Rue des Capucines, 75002 Paris

Telescope ★ 4.4

Café€Mon-Fri 08:30-17:00Work-friendlyWifi

Telescope in Paris was one of the first third-wave coffee bars in the 1er, opened by Nicolas Clerc in 2012. Order the filter coffee. Open mon-fri 08:30-17:00.

Signature drink: Filter coffee

Tip: Laptops fine before 10:30 and after 14:30. The kouign-amann from Ten Belles is the pair.

5 Rue Villedo, 75001 Paris

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