A French savoury custard tart in a shortcrust pastry shell — the classic Quiche Lorraine with bacon and cheese is the defining variant, but the format accommodates almost any filling.
Quiche Lorraine
The canonical version — Quiche Lorraine — comes from the Lorraine region of northeastern France (historically part of Germany, which explains the German-influenced name). The classic filling is smoked lardons (thick-cut bacon pieces) and Gruyère in a cream-and-egg custard. Cheese is sometimes omitted in the strictest Lorraine tradition.
The dish predates the term “quiche” — early versions used bread dough as the shell, not pastry.
The custard ratio
The custard’s success depends on the egg-to-cream ratio. Too many eggs create a rubbery set; too little sets poorly or stays liquid at the edges. A reliable ratio is roughly 2 eggs per 200 ml of double cream. The custard should set to a just-wobbly tremor — not firm — when removed from the oven, and firms further on cooling.
Blind baking
The pastry shell must be blind baked (pre-baked with weights) before the filling is added. Skipping this creates a soggy bottom — the custard is too wet to set the raw pastry during cooking.
Variations
- Quiche Florentine — spinach and cheese, no meat; vegetarian
- Quiche aux champignons — mushroom and cream; earthy
- Smoked salmon quiche — common in British home cooking
”Real men don’t eat quiche”
Bruce Feirstein’s 1982 humour book Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche made the dish synonymous with a 1980s cultural debate about masculinity. The dish was considered effeminate; the book mocked that notion. Quiche remains enormously popular regardless.
Find more foods by letter
Quiche starts with Q and ends with E. Browse other foods along the same letter.
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