Monte Cristo Sandwich
If you know anything about the Count of Monte Cristo, you probably know he was a bad ass dude. Basically, he was a French dude who couldn’t read but was still engaged to this really hot chick that his friend wanted to bone, so the friend got him falsely imprisoned for like 10 years and married the girl in the meantime, but when he got released he found buried treasure and bought a wicked-huge mansion and invented this sandwich and became super-famous and got awesome revenge against that dillrod from the beginning by stealing the chick back and then the other dude gets chased out of town by some bad guys and maybe even killed!
Pow! Do NOT mess with a dude that can make a bad ass sandwich or you WILL be sorry (because you won’t be able to eat any of his sandwich).
But verily, my friends, most of that was directly lifted from a book, via a movie, and none of it is true, except that this is a bad ass sandwich.
You might try spranklin’ it with powdered sugar like I hear they do at Bennigans. And you might also try plopping some jelly or jam alongside. Red currant or raspberry is pretty traditional. Personally, I might try some jalapeno jelly, ’cause I like it spicy. Also, sometimes you see it with turkey and ham but I am not a fan of mixing my meats. And sometimes you see it (probably also at Bennigans) as a three-layer sandwich! Holy hell! That’s too much for me. But you do what you want. The process is the same but you might have to stab a toothpick through it to hold the S.O.B. together.
Here’s how to make two sandwiches so you can have one and someone else can have one, as long as he didn’t get you incarcerated.
Monte Cristo Sandwich
- Yield: 2
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 2 Tablespoons of milk
- 4 slices of firm or even stale bread
- 2 teaspoons of mayonnaise (or mustard or butter, depending on your preference)
- 4 slices of swiss, gruyere, or gouda cheese
- 4 slices of ham
- 2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Spread a half-teaspoon of mayonnaise on each piece of bread.
- Layer cheese and ham on the mayonnaisey side of two pieces of bread: cheese, ham, cheese.
- Top with the other pieces of bread, mayonnaisey side down.
- Beat the egg with the milk in a bowl until it’s the color of sunshine and popcorn.
- Lightly dip each sandwich in the egg mixture, covering each side, and letting the excess egg drip off. Set aside while the skillet heats.
- Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat.
- Put the sandwiches in the hot skillet and reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Cook for 4 minutes, or until the bottom is browned and the cheese is melty-looking
- Flip and cook another 4 minutes.
- Remove from heat, cut into halves, serve on a fancy looking plate and wink at your friend, saying “Oui, monsieur” and really freak them out.
76 Comments
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You are pretty and I will love you forever … please make me a sandwich 🙂
What’s the difference between a Monte Cristo Sandwich and a Croque-Monsieur?
The egg wash.
Hi GSF! MC is dipped in egg and fried; CM is just grilled with butter.
Hilah, sorry to hear you are a little down. You are an amazingly beautiful person on the inside and outside. Love watching your videos. You Rock!
This is my all time favorite sandwich. I have to have the powdered sugar and strawberry compote with it though because I like that little bit of sweetness.
★★★★★
Thanks, Christapher!
I’m happy to say I’m doing much better since this video was made. 🙂 Thank you for writing! You are very kind.
and Croque Monsieur has a cheesy sauce and more cheese on top of the sandwich… popped under a broiler… made it last night! Super cheesy and amazing. I spread some stone ground mustard on mine too! Yum.
Yummy! I love melty, broiled cheese!
A croque monsieur sandwich is traditionally covered in a white sauce with a hint of nutmeg, broiled lightly and re-sauced. Fantastic. Croque Madame is also good-made in a similar way with a fried egg on top–
When I don’t want to cook (i’m a semi-retired professional cook) I make Monte Cristo sandwiches for my especially fussy youngest son and his sister (who eats anything) anything remotely like french toast will do it!
Sounds so good and rich!
Hilah!! I guess now is a better time than ever to tell you that I have a huge crush on you. That is why I tune in regularly to watch for videos! As a bonus, I learn to cook! Keep on keepin’ on!
Oh, PB, you are TOO much! Thanks, babe. 😉
Be more concerned about this.
haters gonna hate
Hello,
You ARE pretty and I’ve even seen you in real life. AND you can draw some wicked doodles! The sammy looks delicious. I’m thinking of figuring out a variation without ham:-/
It was fun to meet you at TechMunch.
Hi Melissa! It was great to meet you, too. I’m intrigued by your Ayurvedic cooking. In place of ham, maybe just some sliced tomato?
Ayurvedic cooking isn’t as much fun as mayo & ham:) I love them too and I don’t care who knows it;) I’ve had my share of them both.
Tomato what a great suggestion! and a little bit of chopped green onion. Sounds delicious.
-M
Oh, Hilah. You are so beautiful that I have to squint as I approach, lest your beauty blind me. (That’s a fancy way of sayin’ that you are blindingly beautiful that I have to wear sunglasses to keep my eyes from burning out of my head. That would be bad. Especially, since I wouldn’t be able to watch your show anymore.)
Tasty sandwich. Keep up the beautiful work.
Oh, Toro, stoppit! 😉 Thanks for writing. xo
on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best) this compliment is a solid 5. Please note the flowery language.
Solid Five! High fives, Jessie.
On the menu for the husband….he used to get this at Bennigans….remember them?! (but I gotta buy the rasberry jelly for him)
Okay, so not the place for this, but since I’m here! I have been making a bootleg version of your gravy and HOLY HELL BALLS!!! is it good! I add faux bacon bits to the hot oil prior to the GF flour I use and VIOLA!! BACON (sort-of) GRAVY!! annnnddd guess what my sexy man said?!? He said “this could totally pass” when means a hellavah lot from a meat lover! Holla!
LOVE U FO EVA!!
Sounds totally passable, Cindy!! XO-h
You have to be be something special to have a sandwich named after you. Soon to come: The Hilah Sandwich.
Unending love and flattering salutations sent by separate post.
Bring it!!! It’s about time somebody named a sandwich after me. Can it have fried pickles on it? And beets?
We Just love you and apricot, mangos, sandwiches,tacos We love Your charisma showing how to enjoy cooking
Thank you, Aaron! I love apricots and mangoes, too. I bet apricots would be REAL good on this sandwich! Thank you for writing me.
-h
You’re pretty, and I will love you forever!! 😀 Take care, Hilah! Thanks for sharing this yummy recipe.
Hi Memoria! Long time, my dear! Thank you for telling me what I needa hear! XO
Hilah – You are pretty and I will love you forever. Love all your recipes. You are awesome..
Thank you, Teresa! I appreciate you writing. YOU are awesome!
I just came across your site and I’m loving watching your videos, you’re so funny and your recipes are great.
Hi Megan! I’m super glad you found me! I look forward to getting to know you through the internet.
-hilah
Dear Hilah,
I had been swamped lately (not literally) and had not caught all up on my blogs yet and a friend said to me, “Have you seen the Monte Cristo Sandwich video yet? Hilah looks like she’s about to cry and it makes me sad. But then, by the end I want to eat a sandwich and so I feel insensitive.” But he is not insensitive. You just make a bad ass sandwich and for realsies, so pretty.
And I was *just* having a conversation about how I hate mixing my meats, too! Everyone else just looked at me like that was a dumb thing to even have an opinion about. I love the internet and I love you.
Dear Libby,
Thank you for your letter. Your kind words mean so much to me. Please tell your friend not to feel bad for wanting to eat while I am super sad. I understand that not everyone’s appetite is on schedule with my cry-babying.
I am also pleased to know that I am not the only one who is anti-meat-mixing. Well, I will make an exception for bacon cheeseburgers. But beyond that, not so much.
Love and Internet Friendships,
H
Hilah, I feel like I am particularly qualified to make the assertion that you are beyond pretty and actually drop dead gorgeous. I’ve watched all of your shows projected larger than life in hi-def on 7 foot screen, but that didn’t prepare me for how stunning you are in person (I was at the Mouth Party). I’m old enough to be your father and it’s been a couple of decades since I was reduced to sounding like an idiot before such a stunning combination of intelligence, talent and beauty. I don’t think that I’m speaking just for myself in betting that your viewers love you way, way more than Rachael Ray’s do her.
Randy! You are such a salty dog! Is that the right phrase? Probably not, but thank you anyway for you sweet compliments. I’m happy to know you. 🙂
I’ve always heard of the Bennigan’s sandwich but I’ve never tried it. The way they make it sounds like an abomination but your version looks tasty!
Hi Shelley! I don’t think I’ve ever eaten at Bennigan’s. Which doesn’t bother me in the least. But this way is totally yummy as hell! 🙂
Hey Hilah,
You are pretty and you rule! Hope things are back to kicking ass for you.
Hi Martha! Thank you, dear one! I think that your Ranch Water drink will help things kick ass for me this weekend, at least.
Hooray for Hilah!
All the way up here in Salmon Arm, BC, Canada, where there’s still a-boot a foot of snow in the shady parts of the back yard this morning, I have been looking forward to every one of your new recipe posts since the amazingly lucky day I found your site.
I even found Collard Greens in a specialty grocery store in the big city (ur, that’d be Vernon, BC). I’ve know about collards, had them even before then, pow! a recipe from you on how to prepare them? Shit-ya.
So please keep in mind that sometimes Spring is tough (why there’s summer), and I’m sorry for the current flash of toughness.
But know that you are a damn inspiration around here (for me directly and for my girlfriend, by proxy-(she doesn’t cook!!) and that without you the poor collards would be wilting all away in big city specialty store, the snow up here would never melt and Monte Crazy Cristo would always just be that creepy guy with the roller skates, who smells like the inside air of a tire and swears at you for nothing only doing circles over and over on the sidewalk a couple of blocks towards downtown from here. And breakfast tacos? Come on, it doesn’t get better than that, does it?
Thanks so MUCH! Jason
Jason, you are fuckin’ cool.
It seriously cheers me up to picture you cooking collard greens and tacos for your girl up there under all the snow. You’re like a polar bear chef. Thanks, man. XO
Turn that frown upside down. Big ups from Seattle. Love the show. You are like the anti-seattlite and i f’in love it. *Keep coming back, it works.*
Hi Brian! Thank YOU! Anti-Seattlite is an awesome word. I LOVE it. Totally made my frown turn upside down. 😉
Hey Hilah. You looked in that video how I did when I realised that my job was killing me. Darling please stop whatever is doing that to you and continue being Hilah of Hilahcooking. Set up a paypal account or something; I guarentee your fans will contribute something. Love your show, be happy and safe x
(PS I say “be safe” as NZ has had several nasty earthquakes and we don’t know who will be alive in the near future. Be safe x).
Thanks for your support, Cat. Sucks about all the earthquakes. YOU be safe and I will be safe. Deal, love? XO
I started to write this and realized that — even though your video inspired what I made — what I made was not a Monte Cristo at all. It was a grilled cheese sandwich. No egg. I had planned to spread some cherry jam inside the sandwich with the cheese, but forgot.
It was really good, though, and I used my cast iron pan. If you go to Whole Paycheck, see if you can find some goat Gouda. It’s ghostly white, nice and tangy; the newer goat Gouda is a lot less expensive than the aged stuff.
I still have a hunk of the Gouda. Next time, I’ll remember the jam. And sliced ciabatta instead of rye. And I’ll dip it in egg. Probably. Maybe.
You’re pretty and hilarious and I love you (even though I don’t know you, yay!). And that random accent that floats in and out– beats Paula Deen (by a lot).
And your food looks DE-lish.
So f*ck emotional duress 🙂
Paula Deen ain’t got nothin’ on me!
Thanks for your support, dude. F*ck it is right!
damn you hilah you’re freakin’ funny as crap! take that as a compliment please! secret to your success will be you being you, freak! 😉 how did i stumble upon this site hmmm? good stuff dude!
Hi Lance! How DID you stumble upon this site? Wormhole? 😉
hey hilah,
haha v funny! nope, i was just goooooooooooogling trying to find a good taco pastor recipe bc we all know that’s some damn tasty shit. and boom, there you were…hmmm under tasty shit perhaps? jkjk lol oh man doubt this makes your page lol anyay, so yeah that’s how! 😉
Of course the tacos would bring us together, Lance! Tacos are magical! 😉
for sure…guess we shouldn’t fight it but just go with it huh? 😉 lance and hilah joined by the taco! lol
I’m now addicted to these. So is my toddler. I’m blaming you. 😉
Glad you’re feeling brighter now. I love your videos!
I gladly accept that blame, Gill! 😉
New notifications reminded me of this post, and made me want to tell you: because of you, my little boy learned to ask for a “Monty Kwisto Sammidge” at the age of 2. Be proud. Be very, very proud.
Oh, I am indeed. 🙂 Thanks, Gill!
what? no 50 cent wannabe hat?
I don’t get it.
You are pretty and I will love you forever… can i make you a sandwhich? Cuz i made 2.
Aw, you are too sweet. I’m feeling much better now, thank you. 🙂
I made this for the first time… you would have been proud :.)
I AM proud! Good job! 🙂
I was surfing in my G+ and came across your site. I liked this one and I will try to do this tomorrow.
thank you for sharing. 🙂
Hey Armando!
Glad to have you here! I hope you enjoy the recipe. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
Hi Hilah! yesterday I tried your recipe, and it is fantastic. The staff here loved.
You know, I’m Portuguese and here we have a similar recipe called “tosta mista”. It does not have the egg and it is done in a Nonstick Sandwich Maker.
You may ask, what makes a better sandwich? It is the bread.
One of this days I’ll see you in a Masterchef competition
Hi Armando!
Thank you so much! I’m glad your friends enjoyed it. This is such a good combination of ingredients, I am not surprised Portugal has a version of its own, too.
You’re right about the bread, too. It can make it or break it.
Thank you for writing, my friend!
-hilah
okay! LOVE you!!!! HOpe you are feeling better, I am not sure when this posted but anyway, I love your version of the Monte Cristo sandwich. Yours just seems light and yummy. I have seen it done with powdered sugar and heavy batter…just doesn’t seem appealing that way. I am going to try yours tonight ! will let you know how it goes!!
Thanks, babe! I am much better these days! 🙂
I agree that most recipes for this are too sweet. Hope you like my version!
High Fives!!!! this was terrific. made for the husband and myself last night. Hit!!
🙂 Thank you for your version and for all the videos and recipes! I am addicted to you daily now! Thanks!
YAY!!! 🙂 Good job, lady!
It’s Thursday, April 12, 2012: Happy National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day!
★★★★★
I have to tell you how much I love your videos. I take the nyc subway 1 1/2 hours a day each way to teach high school in Brooklyn. I watch your videos on my phone, and they make me laugh and make the commute tolerable. I only wish there were more! Keep up the great work!
Hooray! Thank you, Susan! 😀
You’ve just put a big smile on my face. I’m happy to be a part of your daily commute.