This popular French pie consists of a pastry crust filled with eggs, cream, and anything from bacon, cheese, and leek to mushrooms and seafood. Quiche is usually very filling and high in calories, making it a frequent choice for parties and buffet tables.
It can be served either hot or cold, and is traditionally cut into slices. Numerous varieties of quiche exist today, the most popular of which are quiche Lorraine, quiche Florentine, and quiche Provençale.
MOST ICONIC Quiche
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Although quiches can be made with nearly anything, from meats and vegetables to seafood, herbs, and cheeses, the king among these delicious baked tarts is still the original quiche Lorraine, consisting simply of a shortcrust dough base that is filled with bacon, eggs, cream, nutmeg, and a dash of salt and pepper.
The word quiche is thought to have been adapted from the German word küchen, meaning cake, as the first Lorraine quiches were made with bread dough instead of shortcrust dough. In the French region of Lorraine, it is traditionally served on May Day as an accompaniment to roasted suckling pig.
MOST ICONIC Quiche Lorraine
Also known as rum baba, these small yeast dough sponge cakes are filled with raisins or currants, baked in a ring mold, and soaked in rum. The hole in the center of the cake is filled with either pastry cream, fresh fruit, or whipped cream. This dessert is believed to have been invented by pastry chef Nicolas Stohrer, who cooked for exiled Polish King Stanislas Lesczyńska when he came to France after his daughter’s marriage to Louis XV.
Stohrer’s pâtisserie in Paris first began to sell baba cakes in 1730, while the addition of rum to the cakes has been noted in recipes since 1835. Some say that baba au rhum was named after Ali Baba, a hero from 1001 Nights and the favorite character of King Stanislas, while others say that the name stems from the Slavic word baba, which means “grandmother” or “old woman”.