Typical French Food Croque Monsieur & Croque Madame

What to eat in Paris

One typical French food Croque Monsieur - is basically a ham and Gruyere cheese toasted sandwich.

Sounds exotic doesn't it? This popular French food is tasty, quick to make, and you can sit down in just about any bar or cafe and order one.

What's different with these French Croque Monsieur is that the sandwiches are prepared with bread - not toast - and then they are cooked in a frypan with a tiny bit of butter. 

Croque Monsieur Fromage

This tasty morsel has cheese on the OUTSIDE of the sandwich.

Croque Monsieur Bechamel

This version is baked in the oven.  The ham and cheese sandwiches are placed in a baking dish, and pre-prepared Bechamel sauce [flour, milk, butter, salt, and pepper] is poured over.  Grated Swiss cheese covers the top, then the sandwiches are baked for about 15 minutes.

More Variations!

• croque provencal (with tomato)
• croque auvergnat (with bleu d'Auvergne cheese)
  
• croque norvegien (with smoked salmon instead of ham)
  
• croque pizza (with tomato sauce)
  
• croque tartiflette (with sliced potatoes)
  
• croque hawaii (with pineapple)
  

Croque Madame

Simply add a fried egg to the top of any Croque Monsieur, and you instantly have a Croque Madame! 

In parts of Normandy the Croque Madame is known as a Croque-Cheval [horse].

The Food of France : Where did the name Croque Monsieur come from?

I haven't been able to find the exact origin of the name, but the first word - Croque - is from the verb croquer (to crunch or eat something crunchy). I did discover that the first recorded appearance of a Croque Monsieur on a Parisian cafe menu was around 1910. It began life in France as a fast-food snack served in cafes. If the Croque Monsieur is topped with a fried egg it is called a Croque Madame - some say because it resembled the shape of a lady's hat, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

OK - so now it's time to step outside your hotel room and go sample some typical French food Croque Monsieur or Croque Madame;  be warned, you may need to sample a few in different bars and cafes. :-)  

Send me photos by clicking on the link for Questions below!

More traditional French food can be found on these other pages:

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Baguette | Croissant | Bread/Pain | Croque Monsieur | French Onion Soup [& Recipe]

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Keywords:  traditional french food, popular french food, the food of france