Now you might be wondering why on earth am I featuring a recipe for a ham and cheese croissant?  Surely that’s not even a recipe?  Well, we are cooking from the Vogue Entertaining Guide from Autumn 1986 which means we are making easy food complicated because that’s what posh people wanted back then.

You or I or most normal people would make a ham and cheese croissant by placing ham and cheese inside a croissant and toasting it.  If I was feeling a bit fancy I might grate the cheese.  I always add a bit of mustard because I love the ham, cheese, and mustard combo.  That’s as fancy as I normally get.

But Vogue in 1986 would have us melting the cheese with some cream and pouring it over the top of the croissant.    And if that’s what Vogue wanted me to do, that’s exactly what I did!  I feel that someone at Vogue HQ back in 1986 thought making a sauce, somewhat akin to the bechamel used in a traditional Croque Monsieur would make this more…French?  Sophisticated?  Elegant?

Or, none of the above.

It was messy and made the croissant soggy.  And no one likes a soggy croissant!

But there was something here I didn’t want to let go of.  And I’d bought a multipack of croissants

I also had some of that cheese sauce left.

So why not give it a little twist?

Ham and Cheese Croissant Day 2 – Better In Than Out

The problems with Day One (apart from having to make a cheese sauce) were the sogginess and the mess.  I want to be able to eat my ham and cheese croissant without utensils.  However, pouring sauce over the top of the croissant made this impossible.

But….instead of over the croissant, what if I put the sauce in the croissant?

This was a lot less messy.  I could pick it up and eat it without having to use a knife and fork which was a bonus and it also meant that the outside of the croissant stayed crispy and flaky.  But it was a bit messy, the sauce leaked out onto my hands a bit so it was still not ideal.

Ham and Cheese Croissant Day 3 – The Bruléed Croissant

So the issue with making this with cheese sauce instead of plain cheese is the sauce.  For day 3 I thought about how to make the sauce less, well, saucy.  Which is how I got to the idea of the bruleed croissant.  Same as Day 2 but instead of serving the croissant as soon as I added the cheese, I popped it back into the oven and under the grill for a few minutes.

This was the best so far.  The croissant was crispy and flaky. The sauce was not too runny and it took on that lovely flavour of grilled cheese.

Day Four – A Break Day Bagel

Day Four I went into the office and bought a bagel for breakfast from my favourite place.  I was getting a little bit sick of ham and cheese croissants.  However….

It. Was. Terrible.

Possibly the worst bagel I have ever eaten.

I’m not naming and shaming them because pre-covid they were superb.  But I also will not be buying a bagel from them for a while.  I have sourced a new bagel place not too far from home which I will try out during the week.  As well to the traditional salmon and lox, they also have some combos like a chicken katsu, a miso mushroom and a labneh and za’atar bagel.  All of which I cannot wait to try!

Day 5 – The Classic Ham and Cheese Croissant

Sometimes you just have to go back to basics and tell Vogue to take a hike.

Swap out the sauce for a slice of cheese and place your croissant under the grill for a few minutes until the cheese melts.  I used a slice of Jarlsberg but feel free to to use whatever melting cheese you have.

Oozy cheese, flaky croissant, no cutlery required to eat.  Perfection!

Here’s the recipe from Vogue October 1986.    Why you might want it is another question entirely!

For slightly more successful dishes from Vogue October 1986 you could check out  the following:

• Chocolate Mousse Hearts
• Crumbed Lamb Cutlets
• Saratoga Torte

Have a wonderful week my friends!