Source: Based Cooking (community recipes)
Make the roux first. Melt 50 g butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Once it foams — about a minute — sprinkle in 50 g flour and stir constantly for 2–3 minutes. This cooks out the raw flour taste and builds the roux's thickening power. Season with salt, ground pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg now; the heat won't cook these off during the milk addition.
Pour the milk in slowly. This isn't fussiness — cold milk hitting hot roux creates lumps because the starch granules seize up before they can hydrate evenly. Add roughly 100 ml at a time, whisking hard between each pour. Once you've incorporated half the milk and the mixture is smooth, you can pour faster. Keep whisking until the sauce coats the back of a spoon and flows off slowly. The béchamel should be thick enough to hold its shape but still pourable — thinner than you'd serve on its own, because the bread will absorb it. This takes 8–10 minutes total. Taste and adjust seasoning; remember the ham and cheese bring salt.
Heat the oven to 180°C. Lay out 6 bread slices. Spread each thinly with mustard — aggressiveness here depends on your brand; start cautious. Divide the béchamel between them, leaving a quarter-inch border. Fold a ham slice into quarters and lay it on each base. Scatter over half the grated cheese. Top with another thin layer of béchamel, then crown each with a second bread slice. Coat the tops with the remaining béchamel — thin enough to see the bread beneath — and distribute the rest of the cheese. This layering is what makes it a classical-french-technique: every component binds together in the oven.
Bake for 10 minutes. The sandwiches should feel firm to the touch and the béchamel at the edges will have set. Run them under the grill for 3–4 minutes to colour the cheese deep gold and crisp the top. The cheese needs to blister and smell nutty, not just melt. Serve immediately.
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