Quiche ( ) is a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

tart A tart is a baked dish consisting of a filling over a pastry base with an open top not covered with pastry. The pastry is usually shortcrust pastry; the filling may be sweet or savoury, though modern tarts are usually fruit-based, sometimes wit ...

consisting of pastry crust filled with savoury

custard Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency f ...

and pieces of

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During product ...

, meat,

seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus a ...

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems ...

s. A well-known variant is quiche Lorraine, which includes lardons or

bacon Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sa ...

. Quiche may be served hot, warm or cold.

Overview

Etymology

The word is first attested in

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 ' meaning "cake" or "tart".

History

Quiche is considered a French dish; however, using eggs and cream in pastry was practised in

English cuisine English cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with England. It has distinctive attributes of its own, but also shares much with wider British cuisine, partly through the importation of ingredients and ideas ...

at least as early as the 14th century and

Italian cuisine Italian cuisine (, ) is a Mediterranean cuisine David 1988, Introduction, pp.101–103 consisting of the ingredients, recipes and cooking techniques developed across the Italian Peninsula and later spread around the world together with w ...

at least as early as the 13th century. Recipes for eggs and cream baked in pastry containing meat, fish and fruit are referred to ''Crustardes of flesh'' and ''Crustade'' in the 14th-century ''

The Forme of Cury ''The Forme of Cury'' (''The Method of Cooking'', from Middle French : 'to cook') is an extensive 14th-century collection of medieval English recipes. Although the original manuscript is lost, the text appears in nine manuscripts, the most fa ...

'' and in 15th-century cookbooks, such as the Italian '.

Varieties

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. Types of quiche include: 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 Shortcrust pastry is a type of pastry often used for the base of a tart, quiche, pie, or (in the British English sense) flan. Shortcrust pastry can be used to make both sweet and savory pies such as apple pie, quiche, lemon meringue or chicken ...

but from mashed potato, flour and butter; the filling is cream, Gruyère and garlic.David (1999), p. 285

Overview

Etymology

History

Varieties

Gallery

Notes

References

Sources

See also

External links