This is me and Nathan:
About a month ago our spouses, T and M, decided to instigate a food feud between us; it was their thinly veiled objective to inspire countless evenings during which they would be fed, copiously, beautiful sandwiches inspired by mutual contempt and competition.
Unfortunately, being who we are, the competition's been mild. (Exhibit A: we keep voting for each other's sandwiches.) But the food...that's been anything but.
A couple of weeks ago we made vegetarian sandwiches with brie and goat cheese, oven roasted tomatoes and roasted garlic mayonnaise, fresh basil, bell peppers, and toasted pine nuts. They were mighty fine. I ended up being handicapped by the goat cheese--not a crowd pleaser--but even I had to concede that Nathan's fresh-tasting yet creamy sandwich was delicious.
Tonight was round two, the Meat Sandwich, and I was ready to dominate. Unfortunately, Nathan slaved away all day and made the most glorious French Dips we've ever had. He smoked and then roasted the beef, sliced it into thin strips and smattered the top with pan-fried onions. The meat and onions ended up on very lightly toasted baguettes with aged Gruyere, dipped by the eater into a rich, salty jus. Somehow intensely satisfying yet not rich.
Thank goodness, because we had to save room for the Monte Cristos.
A Monte Cristo, though recipes vary, is a battered sandwich stuffed with thinly sliced ham and melted cheese. I made mine by pressing two crustless pieces of high-quality white bread around black forest ham and Havarti, with thin smears of butter and homemade currant jelly. The sandwich is chilled, tightly wrapped, for a few hours, and then dipped into a simple batter (think thick pancake batter) and fried like grilled cheese in a hot buttered pan. The hot golden sandwiches get a final dusting of confectioners sugar and are eaten dipped into jam. Homemade blackberry jam.
In all honesty, as luscious as the monte cristo was--like savory French Toast, crisp and creamy, salty and sweet--I preferred the French Dip. I just wouldn't order anything like a Monte Cristo in a restaurant, because I don't enjoy very rich foods.
T agreed with me, but M and Nathan liked the monte cristos. So we tied.
Which, with all of the objectivity I can muster, was exactly the right decision.
To Make Your Own Monte Cristo: (1 sandwich)
- 2 slices high-quality white bread, with the crusts cut off and saved for another use (I ferret mine away in the freezer for future bread crumbs)
- 2 slices thinly cut ham or turkey
- 1 nice slice of havarti / any melty cheese you like
- butter
- jam
- confectioners sugar
- 1/3 C flour
- 1/3 C water
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 egg
Lay bread slices on your working surface. Butter both slices of white bread and spread jam onto one of the pieces.
Fold the ham or turkey so that it fits onto one of the slices of bread (nothing should hang off the side of the slice).
Top the meat with the cheese.
Cap the sandwich with the second slice of buttered bread and firmly press on the top and sides so that the sandwich is sealed. 
Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill for 45 minutes to several hours. This helps to seal the bread and keeps the sandwich from falling apart during the frying process.
Next, Prepare a thick batter using the flour, water, salt, baking powder and egg. Whisk until uniform.
Unwrap the sandwich and dip into the batter, covering completely.
Fry the sandwich in butter over medium heat until golden on both sides.
Hint: My technique--and this makes flawless grilled cheese sandwiches, too--is to heat the butter until golden, set the sandwich into the butter, and then cover the pan and lower the heat to medium/medium low. Flip when golden on the bottom and repeat process. Covering the pan over a low heat encourages a golden crust to develop while trapping enough heat to melt the cheese before the sandwich burns.
Serve hot, sprinkled with confectioners sugar and dipped into jam.
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