Quiche Type Dishes First Appeared In 14th Century England

May 20 is dedicated to the food holiday National Quiche Lorraine Day.

Quiche Lorraine is believed to have originated in the rural Lorraine Region of France. The original Quiche Lorraine consisted of an open pie, made using a bottom crust with a filling of custard and smoked bacon. A cast iron skillet was used to cook the original Quiche. The cheese was added to the recipe at a much later time. Quiche originated in Germany, although today it is known as a classic French dish. The original recipe for quiche lorraine was an open pie with a filling of custard with smoked bacon or lardons and cheese was not added till later . Quiche is a savory, open-faced pastry crust with a filling of savory custard with cheese, meat, seafood, and/or vegetables. Quiche can be served hot or cold. It is part of French cuisine but is also popular in other countries, particularly as party food. Quiche lorraine is a popular variant that was originally an open pie with a filling of custard with lardons. Modern preparations of the dish usually include mature cheese and freshly-cooked bacon as ingredients. The classic French Quiche actually originated in Germany, in the medieval kingdom of Lothringen, which was under German rule. (Renamed Lorraine when it came under French control – TADA!!! Quiche Lorraine). Quiche is considered a French dish, however custards in pastry were known in English cuisine at least as early as the 14th century. The word quiche is derived from the German word for cake, kuchen. The largest quiche was created in Paris, November 22, 1997 by Chef Alain Marcotullio. He used 125 quarts of milk, 1,928 eggs, 156 pounds of bacon, 134 pounds of butter and more than 140 pounds of flour. During the 1900’s, quiche was often considered to be a food avoided by “real” men, as it often contained only small quantities of meat. Among the hardest techniques to master in the art of making quiches, is preventing any of the liquids from leaking outside the pastry, which is one of the reasons for partially baking the pastry before filling it. Quiches vary in the quantities of vitamins and minerals they contain, depending on their ingredients, but they are high in calcium, protein, riboflavin and selenium due to the milk and egg content. Recipes for a dish called quiche first appeared in the UK in cookery books dating back to 1805, though they were cooking quiche two hundred years earlier in France. However, a very similar dish – pastry with an egg custard and meat filling – was described in a medieval cookbook, The Forme of Cury, back in the 14th century. The dish was called “crusstades of flessh” – which doesn’t sound quite as appetizing!

Sources:

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