Difference between: croque monsieur and croque madame

This is a nice quick one folks! The difference between croque monsieur and croque madame. 

Croque monsieur and croque madame are both French dishes that are essentially grilled ham and cheese with a white sauce. The sauce, bechamel, is made of flour, butter, milk, and typically some of the cheese you’re using in the sandwich itself – the cheese is Gruyere or Swiss.

The difference between the two is that croque madame has a fried or poached egg on top.

I searched and searched for another difference, and you know what? There’s one more.

Croque monsieur is usually made with a French toast – the egg goes in the bread instead of on top. I found this in the dictionary definition, and it’s mentioned in a cooking video from Martha Stewart’s website.

And that’s it!

What differentiates the sandwiches from regular grilled ham and cheese is the bechamel sauce.

What makes them different from Monte Cristo sandwiches, is that the Monte Cristo involves the entire sandwich being dipped into an egg batter.

There are many further variations of the croque monsieur and madame, such as the croque senor, with tomato salsa and chilies, or the croque Hawaiian with pineapple slices.