Monte Cristo Sandwich 3.16 The Big One

“Did you take off the Monte Cristo sandwich?” “Well, I-” “No!” “You did, you took off the Monte Cristo sandwich.” “I omitted a few obsolete dishes.” “I can’t believe Nicole made you take off the Monte Cristo. She’s got you menu-whipped.” “She does not have me menu-whipped. I took off a disgusting ridiculous sandwich that no one has ever ordered, including the three of you.” “But just having it there made us feel like we always could.” “It was comforting.”

Ingredients:

• ⅓ cup milk

• 1 egg

• ½ tsp vanilla

• 1 tbsp mayonnaise

• ½ tsp dijon mustard

• ¼ tsp chili powder

• ¼ tsp salt

• ¼ tsp pepper

• 2 slices of brioche bread

• 1 oz gruyere cheese

• 2 slices of deli honey-baked ham

• 2 oz smoked gouda cheese

Directions:

1. In a shallow bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, and vanilla.

2. In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, mustard, chili powder, salt, and pepper.

3. Heat a medium skillet or griddle over low heat. Spray with non-stick cooking spray.

4. Dip one side of one of the slices of bread into the milk batter.

5. Place the wet side of the bread onto the warm skillet.

6. Spread half of the mayonnaise mixture onto the dry side of the bread and spread the other half of the mixture onto one side of the other slice of bread.

7. Layer the gruyere cheese, ham, and gouda cheese onto the bread in the skillet.

8. Dip the dry side of the other slice of bread into the milk mixture and place the mayonnaise side onto the sandwich.

9. Raise the heat to medium. Cook your sandwich over medium heat for about 2-4 minutes per side, allowing the bread to become golden brown and the cheese to completely melt.

Instead of deep frying my sandwich, I used a French toast batter to grill the sandwich.

The Big One, one of my favorite episodes! Even though it’s sad to watch, I absolutely love Paris’s breakdown in this episode, but we’ll get to that. Let’s talk about the Monte Cristo Sandwich. As an adaptation of the French sandwich, the Croque Monsieur, the Monte Cristo is a traditionally deep-fried ham and cheese sandwich. I did a variation on this because I’m sorry, but a deep-fried sandwich doesn’t sound appealing to me. I’m not even that big of a fan of ham. I’ll eat it, but it’s not my go-to. I’d rather just have bacon or prosciutto. I did keep ham for this sandwich, but instead of deep-frying, I did a pan-seared savory French toast-style bread. I’m kind of surprised that Rory and Lorelai have never ordered this sandwich from Luke’s though because it seems right up their alley!

Pardon the pun, but this is a pretty big episode. Rory not only gets into her dream school, Harvard but also Princeton and Yale. Whether you believe Rory would have actually been accepted by all three of these schools, that’s how the storyline goes. Back in the early 2000s, acceptance letters were sent out through the mail, and while normally, you wouldn’t have to wait all day because your mail deliverer is Kirk, you’d still have to rely on the postal service. These days, students get their decisions online. And for a student like Rory, they have a designated day and time in which all the Ivy League decisions come out at once. We call this day, Ivy Day.

Only dip one side of the bread in the French toast batter.

It’s both thrilling and terrifying to check a student’s portal for a decision regardless of which college it is. And while their reactions to the news aren’t generally broadcasted on C-Span, I’ve supported students through breakdowns just like Paris over rejections. Okay, maybe not quite as intense as Paris’s, but breakdowns nonetheless. There is so much pressure put on students about which college they go to, and a deeply broken financial system puts even more pressure on them because not only do they have to get into college, but they have to be able to afford it. I wish that Paris had someone to guide her through this rejection. I think Rory does a pretty good job, but she’s only a teenager herself. Although, let just acknowledge the fact that this is probably Rory at her best as a friend, and that’s coming off the cusp of a really bad fight with Paris, and Paris sharing Rory’s sex life on live TV.

If you don't have a grill pan or a griddle, you can use a skillet!

Also in this episode, is the return of Max Medina. While I’m pretty in favor of Max as a person, just not as a good match for Lorelai, I don’t particularly care for him in this return. Granted, he’s fine in this episode. It’s later in the season that I’m not really a fan. I wish his return ended with this episode. And it’s Lorelai that I have a problem with in this episode. I think we get some closure on the ended engagement between Max and Lorelai, but then they had to go and kiss. I get it—this makes for good TV, but I think their backslide is not healthy. And Lorelai already left Max right before their wedding, and now she’s stringing him along once again. But let’s face it, Lorelai never has a healthy relationship, not even with Luke.

Allow your cheese to get nice and melty!

The other thing I’m going to talk about in this episode is, of course, Sookie finding out she’s pregnant and Jackson’s reaction to it. While I understand Jackson’s initial panic about having a baby, I think it goes on for far too long, even if it’s resolved by the end of the episode. As Lorelai points out, Jackson gets in an argument with Sookie not even 10 episodes ago about wanting to have four kids in four years. So it doesn’t really make sense that he reacts in the way that he does in this episode. I think it would be more believable for Sookie to have a panic, but as we see later in that episode, Jackson’s actions towards Sookie’s pregnancies only get worse.

If you haven’t seen yet, I’m currently hosting a giveaway on my Instagram! It ends tomorrow (August 28th at 9 pm CST), so make sure you enter if you want a chance to win a Dragonfly Inn box from Fandom Fix Boxes!

Happy Cooking from the Hollow!

Top your sandwich with powdered sugar if you want a more traditional Monte Cristo vibe.

If you missed what I made last time, catch up here!