Croque-Monsieur iron, a delicious embrace of metal

On the tablecloth, the cutlery can be counted on one hand. On the kitchen side, it is a wide variety of instruments that is used to work on food. Discover their origins, sometimes forgotten, and the best way to use them.

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Is there a more iconic French sandwich than the Croque-Monsieur? Some will have the malice to answer “The ham-butter!”, Certainly, but take the test: find a group of foreign tourists near the Eiffel Tower and blow the word “Croque-Monsieur”. The formula will have the effect of showing a succession of shots in connection with the art of French living which will love them towards half of red and the nearest Vichy tablecloth.

Appeared for the first time – according to the legend – à la carte a café on boulevard des Capucines, in Paris, in 1910, the original recipe of the Croque -Monsieur (a slice of white ham and a few fine lamellae lamellae Enveloped between two slices of golden butter -gorged sandwich bread quickly becomes a classic. When he mentions it in a scene of in the shade of young girls in flowers, published in 1919, Marcel Proust finished installing the dish in the popular culture of the Belle Epoque. The purists then cook the croque -monsieur by making it toaster slowly in the pan – or by grilling it on a plate with the heat of the oven.

In 1925, Charles Champion, an Illinois inventor known for having developed the popcorn machine, opens a new path by depositing the Tostwich patent, the first press with electric sandwich in history. With the advent of gas cooks, in the 1950s, French households acquired “Croque-Monsieur irons” in cast iron, the Cuisor brand or the Star, which allow rapid cooking on fire . Today, use favors the use of a gauge or electric panini press.

its use

From her Marseilles apartment, located at 7 e floor of a building bar, Cécile Cau, journalist and culinary author, has a breathtaking view. On the one hand, the Cafés du Vieux-Port, on the other, the Mucem and the Sea that goes offshore. Between the two, sits its kitchen: an open space made of checkered tiles, shot dishes and vintage furniture. For the aperitif, she released her old iron with a cook-monsieur: “A real little gem, as we do no longer, that I inherited from an ancient mother-in-law”, we tell us she.

On a wooden board, it cuts four slices in a square of homemade sack bread based on tangzhong, a red water which gives an ultra-movable texture with the dough. By successive layers, she then assembles her garnish: slices of ham from the Estaque (the Marseille competitor of Paris ham) and thin strips of Emmental cut with the mandolin. Before closing the sandwiches, she dotted their interior of her touch: a teaspoon of mustard cream, a small pinch of white pepper from Madagascar and two grated nutmeg.

The tall stove and she puts a knob of butter at the bottom of her burning iron. The Croque-Monsieur will grill in round trip for ten minutes in their metal embrace. Once unmolded, they will reveal a golden appetizing golden crust. On the palate, the cheese melts and spreads with the same languor as the setting sun.