Ham and cheese recipes: croque monsieur, and the ultimate cheese puffs

Ham and cheese make up one of the most popular and delicious sandwich-filling combinations. It is crucial, however, that you select just the right ham and just the right cheese, otherwise one of the ingredients might overwhelm the other.

For this sandwich, I like to use Poilane bread, although any good, sturdy bread will do - but be sure to choose one that's not too chewy or sliced too thick. My main complaint about poor or inexpensive versions of this sandwich is that the proportions are often wrong, with too-thin slices of ham and cheese.

If you're making it at home, of course, you can use as much filling as you like - although too much is almost as bad as too little. I usually count on about 100 grams of ham (I use hand-sliced jambon de Paris) and 50 grams of aged gruyere or comté (although if you're using a milder cheese, you might want to use more).

10 slices bread, preferably a levain (sourdough) type sliced about 6mm thick
About 500 grams jambon de Paris, sliced about 3mm thick
About 250 grams aged gruyere or comté
Grainy mustard, as needed
About 100 grams unsalted butter, or as needed, slightly softened
5-10 eggs (for croque madame)
Cooking oil, as needed