Croque monsieur, a sandwich. Yep. Toasted ham and cheese.
But, knowing you, it's going to be more than just ham and cheese.
The skill is to make a fabulous bechamel,
which is a classic white sauce.
It's the base of lasagne, cauliflower cheese.
Starts off with the milk, and we're just going to get that heated up.
As I remember, when I do it, melt the butter, add the flour
until you get, like, a ball.
No, no, no, no.
You just cook it out to a thick paste.
How do you know when the flour's cooked out?
Taste. It's the only way.
If you can't taste the flour, it's cooked.
If you can taste the flour, it's not cooked.
It is as simple as that.
So the milk's always got to be warm, hasn't it? Yep.
Otherwise, it just won't incorporate the flour and butter.
If you don't put the milk in bit by bit,
you're going to end up with lumps.
What consistency do you want yours?
Well, runny enough to spread, thick enough to not fall out the sandwich.
Yep, that's right. Exactly that.
Salt, pepper, French mustard
and a little bit of Worcestershire sauce.
I've got some cheddar cheese
that I'm going to put inside the sauce.
Now we're going slice our ham.
The fat for me is important
because there's a huge amount of flavour in the fat,
and it also helps to keep it all moist, as well.
So we start off with the white sauce.
Little bit of French mustard.
The gruyere really lifts this sandwich.
I'm now going to fry it in a pan of butter.
GREGG LAUGHS
We're going to colour it
and then we're going to bake it in the oven
and get it cooking and oozing full of butter.
That is super yummy.
Look at that.
Why do you now want to put that in the oven?
Cos that looks ready to me.
Everything in the centre of that sandwich is cold
and it needs warming up.
How long's it in there?
It's going to be in there for four, five minutes.
Now I'm going to take out the sandwich.
AS JOEY TRIBBIANI: How you doing?
Very, very happy with that.
There you are. Croque monsieur and a green salad.