Croque Végétarien
Vegetarian croque with vegetables and cheese, no ham.
Croque-Monsieur
Croque-Tartiflette
Croque inspired by tartiflette with Reblochon, potatoes, and lardons.
Croque-Savoyard
Reblochon does not stretch, it runs. The croque-savoyard rebuilds the café ham-and-cheese around a soft washed-rind mountain cheese, with potato and lardons, until it eats like tartiflette in bread.
Croque Raclette
Croque made with raclette cheese; melty, rich.
Croque-Provençal
Croque-monsieur with tomatoes, herbs de Provence, and sometimes olives.
Croque-Poêlé
Pan-fried croque-monsieur rather than baked or grilled.
Croque-Norvégien
Every croque cooks its protein into the melt. This one's must not: cold-smoked salmon turns to chalk under heat, so the build is a race to gratin the cheese while the fish at the centre stays cool.
Croque-Monsieur Classique
Traditional croque-monsieur with pain de mie, jambon, Gruyère, and béchamel; café standard.
Croque-Mademoiselle
Lighter croque, sometimes without béchamel or with less cheese.
Croque-Madame
Croque-monsieur topped with a fried egg; the 'hat' of the egg gives it a feminine name.
Croque-Madame Parisien
Parisian-style croque-madame with perfectly runny egg.
Croque-Hawaïen
Croque-monsieur with pineapple added; French Hawaiian variation.
Croque-Forestier
Croque-monsieur with mushrooms (champignons) added.
Croque-Champignons
Mushroom-focused croque, sometimes vegetarian.
Croque-Bolognaise
Croque with bolognese sauce instead of or with ham.
Croque-Bleu
Swap the meek Gruyere of a croque-monsieur for a fierce salty Roquefort and the white sauce stops being glue and becomes a buffer, the one mild thing holding the blue in check.
Croque-Auvergnat
The croque-monsieur rebuilt with the dairy of the Massif Central: tangy Cantal or a vein of Bleu d'Auvergne in place of the Alpine cheese, a rougher regional ham, the béchamel and the broiler kept.
Croque au Thon
Drain the tin hard, fold the tuna into a stiff béchamel, cap it with pain de mie and emmental, and broil: the croque au thon is the croque method pointed at a can of tuna, and the water is the fight.
Croque-Monsieur
Grilled ham and Gruyère sandwich with béchamel sauce; invented in Paris cafés around 1910.