Quiche

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Quiche
A typical quiche
TypeTart
Place of origin France
Main ingredientsPastry case filled with egg and cheese, meat, seafood, or vegetables

Quiche (/ˈkʃ/ KEESH) is a French tart consisting of pastry crust filled with savoury custard and pieces of cheese, meat, seafood or vegetables. A well-known variant is quiche lorraine, which includes lardons or bacon. Quiche may be served hot, warm or cold.

Overview[edit]

Etymology[edit]

The word is first attested in French in 1805, and in 1605 in Lorrain patois. The first English usage — "quiche lorraine" — was recorded in 1925. The further etymology is uncertain, but it may be related to the German Kuchen meaning "cake" or "tart".[1]

History[edit]

round tart with yellow filling and bacon bits on the top
Quiche lorraine

Quiche is a French dish originating from the eastern part of the country; however, using eggs and cream in pastry has a wider history. It was practised in Italian cuisine at least as early as the 13th century.[2] Recipes for eggs and cream baked in pastry containing meat, fish and fruit are referred to as Crustardes of flesh and Crustade in the 14th-century The Forme of Cury[3] and in 15th-century cookbooks, such as the Italian Libro de arte coquinaria.[4]

American writer and cookery teacher James Peterson recorded first encountering quiche in the late 1960s and being "convinced it was the most sophisticated and delicious thing [that he'd] ever tasted". He wrote that by the 1980s American quiches had begun to include ingredients that he found "bizarre and unpleasant", such as broccoli, and that he regarded Bruce Feirstein's satirical book Real Men Don't Eat Quiche (1982) as the "final humiliation" of the dish, that "[a] rugged and honest country dish had become a symbol of effete snobbery.[5]

Varieties[edit]

A quiche usually has a pastry crust and a filling of eggs and milk and/or cream. It may be made with vegetables, meat or seafood, and be served hot, warm or cold.[6][7] Types of quiches include:

Name Main ingredients Ref
Quiche au Camembert Camembert cheese, cream, eggs [8]
Quiche aux champignons Mushrooms, cream, eggs [9]
Quiche aux endives Chicory, cream, eggs, cheese [10]
Quiche aux épinards Spinach, cream, eggs [9]
Quiche au fromage de Gruyère Gruyère cheese, cream, eggs, bacon [11]
Quiche aux fromage blanc Cream cheese, cream, eggs, bacon [12]
Quiche aux fruits de mer Shrimp, crab or lobster, cream, eggs [13]
Quiche aux oignons Onions, cream, eggs, cheese [14]
Quiche aux poireaux Leeks, cream, eggs, cheese [10]
Quiche au Roquefort Roquefort cheese, cream, eggs [8]
Quiche comtoise Comté cheese cheese, cream, eggs, smoked bacon [15]
Quiche lorraine Cream, eggs, bacon[n 1] [11]
Quiche niçoise, à la tomate Anchovies, olives, tomatoes, eggs, Parmesan cheese [8]

In her French Country Cooking (1951), Elizabeth David gives a recipe for a quiche aux pommes de terre, in which the case is made not from shortcrust pastry but from mashed potato, flour and butter; the filling is cream, Gruyère and garlic.[16]

Gallery[edit]

Picture of a round, open tart with dark filling
Salmon and spinach quiche
slice of quiche with light brown filling
Leek and mushroom quiche
Slices of a quiche with a green and yellow fillings
Spinach quiche
Three small individual quiches with mushrooms and pale custard filling
Individual quiches

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Some recipes add cheese, but the traditional Lorrainian version does not.[12]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "quiche". Oxford English Dictionary. OUP. 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
    - "Quiche", Centre Nationale de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales. Accessed 12 February 2015. This source also notes the first reference to 1805, in J.-J. Lionnois, Hist. des villes vieille et neuve de Nancy..., Nancy, t. 1, p. 80
  2. ^ "Storia origine delle torte salate". Italian Academy of Gastronomy. Archived from the original on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  3. ^ Hieatt, Constance; Butler, Sharon (1985). Curye on Inglysch: English culinary manuscripts of the fourteenth century (including the forme of cury. SS. Vol. 8. London: EETS.
  4. ^ "Ancient Italian Cookbook" (PDF). Italophiles. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2019. Austin, Thomas, ed. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery Books. London, EETS OS 91, 1888, repr. 1964.
  5. ^ Peterson, p. 153
  6. ^ David (2008), pp. 18 and 187
  7. ^ Beck et al, p. 153
  8. ^ a b c Beck et al, p. 155
  9. ^ a b Beck et al, p. 160
  10. ^ a b Beck et al, p. 159
  11. ^ a b Beck et al, p. 154
  12. ^ a b David (2008), p. 187
  13. ^ Beck et al, p. 156
  14. ^ Beck et al, p. 157
  15. ^ Montagné, p. 430
  16. ^ David (1999), p. 285

Sources[edit]

  • Beck, Simone; Louisette Bertholle; Julia Child (2012) [1961]. Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One. London: Particular. ISBN 978-0-241-95339-6.
  • David, Elizabeth (1999) [1950, 1951, 1955]. Elizabeth David Classics – Mediterranean Food; French Country Cooking; Summer Food (second ed.). London: Grub Street. ISBN 1-902304-27-6.
  • David, Elizabeth (2008) [1960]. French Provincial Cooking. London: Folio Society. OCLC 809349711.
  • Montagné, Prosper (1976). Larousse gastronomique. London: Hamlyn. OCLC 1285641881.
  • Peterson, James (2002). Glorious French Food: A Fresh Approach to the Classics. New York: Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-44276-9.

External links[edit]