Croque Madame: The Greatest Grilled Cheese In The World

what is up guys I’m Joshua Wiseman andtoday’s winner talk about one of thegreatest sandwiches of all time thecroque madame and i’m gonna show you howto make it now if you’re one of thosepeople that’s like Josh what the fuck isa croque madame don’t just be throwingthese weird words i mean doesn’t soundparticularly appetizing but let meexplain this to you all right I’m aboutto umm but to educate you a crockmonster I’m gonna get to them Adama justbear with me and if you would like toskip this part please by all means skipthis partso crop on sure is essentially a Frenchham and cheese sandwich alright it’smade like a grilled cheese but it hasham in it and the thing that takes itfrom zero to hero is the beautiful layerof bechamel that’s poured on top andthen broiled until beautifully bubblyand caramelizing it’s it’s amazing okaythat’s a crock munch shirt now once youadd a fried egg on top then it becomes acroque madame first things first we’regonna start our bechamel to do thatyou’re gonna heat two cups of whole milkover medium heat until it reaches asteamie don’t bring this to a boil wejust want it to be hot optionally youcan add a bay leaf this deep in thismilk don’t forget to open your jar ofnutmeg only to realize that you’re gonnaadd it later next you’re gonna add fourtablespoons of unsalted butter in a panover medium heat once the butter isfully melted you’re gonna add threetablespoons of all-purpose flour whiskthe butter and flour together until itforms a cohesive paste and you’re justgonna cook this a little bit just tocook out some of that starchy flourytaste and you’ll do that for about oneto two minutes whisking constantly thisis called a roux now at this point youcan remove the bay leaf from your milkand you can add your milk in batcheswhisking in between just to make sureeverything gets incorporated you want toadd the milk all at one just add it alittle bit by a little bit until all themilk is incorporated once all of themilk is added just let it sit and simmerfor a little bit to allow the flour tofully thickthe bechamel is done once you reach aconsistency similar to this next one ofthe most important pieces to this recipeis the bread now you can use anystandard white bread if you like to butI chose to use one of my homemadesourdough lows you can also go to alocal bakery and pick up a nicesourdough loaf that’s what I wouldpersonally recommend it just has a lotmore flavor and a nice texture next onthe inside of two slices of bread you’regonna spread a teaspoon of whole-grainmustard on each sliceI chose whole grain Dijon now for theassembly now what you’re gonna want todo is get a really good-quality Gruyerecheese this is the best one that I couldfind it was a little expensive so youdon’t have to go all out but I wouldrecommend finding a nice one now withoutlosing the tips of your fingers you’regonna grate a pretty generous amount ofGruyere cheese on the bottom slice Iwould say about a half cup of gratedcheese here next you’ve got your hamthis is actually a French ham that Ifound in Central Market but you can useany ham that you like and just layer apretty decent amount of ham depending onyour liking don’t overdo it because thenyour sandwich is gonna be too big andthere’s really nothing moredissatisfying as not being able to fit asandwich in your mouth now you mighthave thought we were done with thecheese but I guarantee you we’re noteven halfway done with that so you’regonna grate some more cheese about thethird a cup of grated cheese over theham before you add your top slice justgetting still not satisfied with theamount of cheese that was on therealready apparently hit it with just alittle bit of fresh cracked black peppertop your sandwich with the other sliceand lightly press down to sort ofcompact all those ingredients in therenow if you understand how to make agrilled cheese you will be able to dothis part just fine you’re gonna meltabout two tablespoons of butter in apreheated pan over medium heat and thenyou’re gonna add your sandwich in andtoast it for about two to three minutesper side or until it’s nice and brownand crispy once that side is toastedwere just gonna flip it over and do thesame on the other side just make sure toflip it carefully so this sandwichdoesn’t open up you want to keep allthose ingredients nice andnow that our sandwich is toasted on bothsides I’m gonna place it on a rollersheet or a sheet tray whatever works foryouand then for the pista VC stomachsyou’re gonna pour your bechamel over thesandwich now you’re just gonna pourenough to coat the top and have itdribble down the sides a little bitdon’t overdo itthis bechamel should be enough for aboutthree to four sandwiches you didn’tthink that I wouldn’t add more cheesedid you because we’re adding more cheeseand we’re gonna do another half cupgrated on top now we’re gonna take thisbeautiful masterpiece and placeunderneath your broiler for about tenminutes now this time is give or takejust go by sight when it looks nice andcaramelized and not black and all thecheese has melted you’re good to go nowall that’s going I’m gonna thinly slicesome fresh chives and I’m gonna get askillet with two tablespoons of butterover medium heat and now we’re gonna fryour egg once your butter is melted andbubbling you’re gonna add your egg wholeinto the pan now I’m gonna leave that atmedium heat you’re gonna notice that theoutside whites are gonna start to cookbut the inside whites covering the eggyolk are still uncooked and so what I doto combat that is I flick the hot butteronto the uncooked whites to get them tocook faster and this way you protect theegg yolk from getting overcooked so theegg yolk is still nice and melty and thewhites will be fully cooked once all thewhites are set you’re gonna remove yourfried egg from the pan and just place itto the side on a plate now make sureyou’re keeping an eye on that labor oflove that’s underneath your broilerright now once the cheese is melted andit’s a little bit caramelize you’re goodto gonow all you’ve got to do is pull it outof the oven top it with your fried egggarnish it with your freshly slicedchives and finish it with some freshlycracked black pepper pepper pepperit’s a tongue it’s a tongue twister anda final unveiling for your viewing andtongue pleasure note wait though[Music]alright guys and that is it I mean thisthis is hands-down one of my mostfavorite sandwiches of all time italways has been it always will beif you enjoyed this video leave a likesubscribe and I will see you next week[Music]