Five Facts about Quiche

Life’s too short to turn your quiche while it’s cooking. According to me.

We have an abundance of fresh eggs in the house today, and since it’s a bank holiday I decided to do some baking with them, while free time is also in abundance. So, in celebration of that fact, here are five exciting facts about the humble quiche.

1. You can make them in a variety of sizes
Bitesize quiches make an excellent canape and you can really push the boat out on some fancy fillings to make them extra special. Caviar topping anyone? The world’s biggest quiche was apparently made by a French chef in 1997. It used nearly 2000 eggs, was baked in a 16 foot dish and took 18 hours to cook.

2. You don’t need to blind bake a quiche crust
In fact it’s better if you don’t, in my experience. Naturally you want a thin crust on your quiche to keep it light and moist, and blind baking this thin pastry can lead to the crusts overbaking and the base resisting the filling, which can lead to overcooking there. Which means quiches are super quick and easy to throw together. Fear thou not the soggy bottom, just make sure your oven is up to temperature when you put the quiche in.

3. Quiche was invented in Germany
Fair enough, it was invented in the Lorraine region of France. But when it was invented, that region was under the rule of the German kingdom of Lothringen, so German it is. The word come from the German ‘kuchen’, meaning cake. See, informative and entertaining. You’ll never look at quiche the same again will you?

4. Quiche is a great anti-waste food
Pretty much anything savoury can go in a quiche, and you can even make sweet ones, even though that’s more of an egg custard style affair if you ask me. Our one today used up lots of odds and ends in the fridge; a leek that was looking a bit tired, half a courgette, the end of an Irish white pudding, some lardons cut from cooking bacon and a bit more besides. Don’t feel you need to stick to the traditional fillings, although I do recommend that egg is involved. Just fry everything off beforehand so that any vegetables don’t leak additional water into your filling and your meat/bacony goodness is nice and crisp. This would be an awesome way to use up roast or Christmas dinner leftovers.

5. Quiche doesn’t have enough meat in it for men?
Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche was a satirical book on masculine stereotypes, written by Bruce Feirstein in the 1980s. It has since transpired that real men do eat quiche, as do real women. Another finely titled quiche-related book is Agatha Raisin and The Quiche of Death, by MC Beaton.