Its origins go back to the 16th century. In Nancy where it is a speciality, its local name is féouse. Quiches used to be made from bread dough but nowadays shortcrust or puff pastry is used. In some areas of Lorraine, any pastry tart filled with migaine (eggs and cream) mixed with onions, cream cheese, or pumpkin is called a quiche, and elsewhere quiches can be made with cheese, ham, bacon, onion, mushrooms, seafood, and various other ingredients.
A quiche tourangelle is filled with rilletees and beaten eggs, sprinkled with chopped fresh parsley, and is served warm.
The greatest thing about quiche is it's adaptability to ingredients, temperature and even time of day. You can eat it hot, warm or cold, with onions, meat,cheese, even nuts or fruits. You can eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner and almost everyone loves it, even those men who supposedly don't eat quiche.
A few hints before baking.
1. You should always prebake your shell, it is best if you do this
with aluminum foil on top of your crust and fill it with beans or pie
weights. Doing this for 10-15 minutes before filling helps you to have a
flaky crust, not a doughy one and keeps the crust from puffing up in the
middle.
2. Use a moderately heated oven to prevent the custard from
curdling.
3. If you burn the quiche just on top or the filling is not quite
done, return it to the oven with a generous sprinkling of cheese on top.
You can also add some fresh herbs for decoration. Bake 5-10 minutes at
400°F until cheese is melted.
4. Before blind baking the shell, paint on a layer of egg white to
make a protective, wet proof layer to help keep the quiche crust
crisp.
Although quiche is now a classic dish of French cuisine, quiche actually originated in Germany, in the medieval kingdom of Lothringen, under German rule, and which the French later renamed Lorraine. The word �quiche� is from the German �K�chen�, meaning cake.
The original �quiche Lorraine� was an open pie with a filling consisting of an egg and cream custard with smoked bacon. It was only later that cheese was added to the quiche Lorraine. Add onions and you have quiche Alsacienne. The bottom crust was originally made from bread dough, but that has long since evolved into a short-crust or puff pastry crust.
Quiche became popular in England sometime after the Second World War, and in the U.S. during the 1950's. Because of its primarily vegetarian ingredients, it was considered a somehow �unmanly� dish, - �real men don�t eat quiche.� Today, one can find many varieties of quiche, from the original quiche Lorraine, to ones with broccoli, mushrooms, ham and/or seafood (primarily shellfish). Quiche can be served as an entr�e, for lunch, breakfast or an evening snack.
