Croque-monsieur
According to Larousse, this classic French hot sandwich consists of a thin slice of ham and melted cheese tucked between two pieces of sliced bread. The original first appeared on Parisian menus in 1910, and some claim it was invented by accident, when French workers left their lunch near a hot radiator, only to come back later and discover that the cheese in their sandwiches had melted.
If you want to taste an authentic croque, the cheese must be Gruyere (mixed with bechamel in order to get Mornay sauce) and the whole sandwich needs to be sautéed in butter until it is crispy and golden brown. The croque-monsieur is so popular that the famous novelist Proust even wrote about it in his 1918 masterpiece In Search of Lost Time.
According to food historians, the sandwich was originally named by Michel Lunarca, the owner of a popular bistro on the Boulevard des Capucines in the early 20th-century Paris. Read more
Frustrated by his success, Lunarca's competitors began spreading rumors that he was a cannibal. When he ran out of baguettes for sandwiches one day, he used a loaf of pain de mie to make a toasted sandwich with cheese and bread. Upon being asked by a guest what kind of meat he used for the sandwich, he replied "Le viande de monsieur, évidemment."—meaning—"Human meat, obviously." The joke made these sandwiches an instant hit, and he put them on the menu under the name they are known by today.
For those who think everything tastes better with eggs, there is the croque-madame, a popular version of croque-monsieur topped with a fried egg, which, according to some people, represents a woman's hat.
