A Monte Cristo sandwich is an

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

-dipped or batter-dipped

ham and cheese sandwich The ham sandwich is a common type of sandwich. The bread may be fresh or Toast (food), toasted, and it can be made with a variety of toppings including cheese and vegetables like lettuce, tomato, onion or Pickled cucumber, pickle slices. Various ...

that is pan or

deep fried Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow oil used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. Norma ...

. It is a variation of the French ''

croque monsieur A ''croque monsieur'' () is a hot sandwich made with ham and cheese. The name comes from the French words ''croque'' ("crunch") and ''monsieur'' ("mister"). History The dish originated in French cafés and bars as a quick snack. In the earl ...

''. From the 1930s to the 1960s,

American cookbooks American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

had recipes for this

sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

under such names as "French sandwich", "toasted ham sandwich", and "French toasted

cheese sandwich A cheese sandwich is a sandwich made with cheese on bread. Typically semi-hard cheeses are used for the filling, such as Cheddar, Red Leicester, or Double Gloucester. A ''Guardian'' article called the cheese sandwich a " British lunchtime s ...

". The Monte Cristo sandwich supposedly entered the scene in the 1960s in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

, and exploded in popularity after the

Blue Bayou Restaurant Blue Bayou are full-service New Orleans/Cajun-style restaurants renowned for their unusual ambiance. They are located at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disneyland, in Chiba, Japan. Guests wishing to dine at the ...

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...

began serving it.

Description

In most regions, the sandwich is savory rather than sweet. Traditionally, it is dipped in its entirety in beaten

and

pan-fried Pan frying or pan-frying is a form of frying food characterized by the use of minimal cooking oil or fat (compared to shallow frying or deep frying), typically using just enough to lubricate the pan. In the case of a greasy food such as baco ...

, though it may also be deep-fried. Regional variations may include sliced

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. In some areas of the contiguous U.S. it is served grilled; in others, it is an

open sandwich An open sandwich, also known as an open-face/open-faced sandwich, bread baser, bread platter or tartine, consists of a slice of bread or toast with one or more food items on top. History During the start of the middle ages, thin slabs of coa ...

with only the bread egg-dipped and the assembled sandwich heated slightly under a grill or broiler. Some restaurants serve a variation that is batter-dipped and deep-fried. The Monte Cristo is sometimes covered in

powdered sugar Powdered sugar, also called confectioners' sugar, or icing sugar, is a finely ground sugar produced by milling granulated sugar into a powdered state. It usually contains between 2% and 5% of an anti-caking agent – such as corn starch, p ...

and served with

maple syrup Maple syrup is a syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Maple tree ...

preserves Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the meth ...

References

External links

Count the Monte Cristos
at The Stranger {{DEFAULTSORT:Monte Cristo Sandwich American sandwiches Cheese sandwiches Pork sandwiches Deep fried foods

Description

See also

References

External links