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Quiche LorraineQuiche Lorraine
April 28, 2019 | Updated January 20, 2023 | Laura
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✽ Recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I | Julia Child ✽
Julia Child Recipes 16-17 | 511 recipes to go!
✽ Quiche Lorraine [Cream and Bacon Quiche], p. 147
✽ Pâte Brisée [Short Paste, Pastry Dough, Pie Crust], p. 139
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✽ Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961.
✽ You can buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I which contains these recipes here. (affiliate link)
The purpose of this Julia Child section of my blog is to document my journey of learning how to cook. To show my successes, my failures, and what I learned along the way.
Since I didn't create these recipes (if only!), I do not post exact amounts of ingredients or word-for-word instructions. If any of these recipes spark your interest, I highly recommend you buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (affiliate link). It's a great investment and learning tool and contains hundreds of classic recipes.
What you will find on my blog is:
✽ Butter Count & Cost Total
✽ How the Recipe Tasted
✽ Answers to Questions about Recipe
✽ Fun Facts about Recipe or an Ingredient Used
✽ The Recipe Process
✽ Step-by-Step and Final Photos of Recipe
I hope that you enjoy reading my thoughts, learn something new, and leave inspired to try a new recipe. Bon appétit!
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Butter Count & Cost: Quiche Lorraine + Pie Crust
✽ Butter Count: +14 TB
✽ Cost: $5.23 [~$1.05 per serving]
Check out the total Julia Child butter count & cost here!
→ Looking for a different Julia Child recipe? Here's a list of all of the completed and pending Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipes!
The classic quiche.
Get excited because here is my very first Julia egg recipe! I LOVE eggs so it was about time I got to crackin’.
February has been such a blur. This is only my third recipe (2nd blog) this month, and February is almost already a done deal. I have some catching up to do! But I am glad to say that my hardest pharmacy school clerkship and waking up at 5AM and going to bed at midnight is OVER, and I decided to celebrate with quiche. Not sure there is a better way.
First things first, homemade pie crust over store-bought pie dough any day of the week. So delicious, and it really can bump a quiche or pie a couple notches up in the rankings.
This quiche was good. Simple, but simple is not always bad. I enjoyed it, but perhaps I'm just not a big quiche fan. I guess I have plenty of time to find out since there are multiple quiche recipes in this book ahead of me.
Quiche Lorraine Recipe: Questions & History
✽ What is a Quiche Lorraine?
A Quiche Lorraine is any quiche that is made with eggs, heavy cream, bacon, and Swiss cheese. However, the cheese was a later addition to the original recipe. This Julia Child quiche recipe does not call for cheese.
✽ Quiche Lorraine History
Most assume quiche originated in France, but most say it actually originated in Germany in the medieval kingdom of Lothringen (which was under German control). The area then became under French control and was renamed to Lorraine.
However, I must note that like a lot of recipes' history, there is a debate. According to Larousse Gastronomique, quiche originated in the French region of Lorraine.
Despite whoever invented quiche, I think it is safe to say that most would agree that the quiche was made famous by the French- the French elevating the original recipe making it oh so delicious.
Despite quiche dating back all the way to the 16th century, quiche wouldn't be popular in America until the mid-20th century. And quiche coming to America kind of drove some French chefs crazy. Americans were adding cheese to their Quiche Lorraine recipes and vegetables that had no business being inside a quiche- such as raw mushrooms which would release their juices while baking and leave you with a soggy quiche.
Since the 1950s, quiche has fallen in and out of favor mulitple times in America. After doing some research online, it really seems like either you hate it or you love it.
✽ Why do you blanch the bacon?
Simmering the bacon in water prior to adding the quiche rids it of its smoky and salty taste. The recipe does mention that this step is optional. Next time, I would skip the blanching step. I love bacon flavor!
Looking for more Julia Child quiche recipes to read about?
→ Check out all of the entree & luncheon dish recipes that I've completed so far!
Fun Quiche Facts
*Find these facts plus lots more on Mobile Cuisine.*
✽ Quiche Lorraine Day
Quiche Lorraine has its own day. May 20th of every year is known as National Quiche Lorraine Day.
✽ Where does the word quiche come from?
The word quiche comes from the German word, kuchen, which means cake.
✽ What was the largest quiche?
The largest quiche was made on November 22, 1997 in Paris by Chef Alain Marcotullio. It was so big that it required 140 pounds of flour, 125 quarts of milk, 1928 eggs, 134 pounds of butter, and 156 pounds of bacon!
How to Make Quiche Lorraine
✽ Step 1: Make a Pastry Shell
This was a relatively easy quiche to make- as it is the first recipe in the ‘Entrées and Luncheon Dishes’ chapter. The hardest part was the dough.
So I have made pie dough from scratch before. I started a tradition 3 years ago where I make a pie completely from scratch for Thanksgiving. Luckily for me, Julia’s recipe is almost the same as mine.
You need 5 things to make the dough- flour, salt, sugar, butter, and shortening. I love how simple some foods are and still taste incredible.
If you have never made a pie dough before, the main thing to remember is not to overwork the dough. All the ingredients are blended together with certain specific techniques such as “add the water and blend quickly with one hand, fingers held together and slightly cupped, as you rapidly gather the dough into a mass.”
The main difference from my recipe and Julia’s is ‘the fraisage’ or what some may know as ‘the final blending.’ It’s when you take the heel of your hand and quickly and firmly smear the dough about 6 inches. This will blend the butter into the dough (I still need to practice this as I found it was more difficult for me than it sounds).
The dough is rolled out, put into quiche pan, and partially baked. Then it is ready to be filled with the good stuff!
✽ Step 2: Blanch Bacon
As for the quiche, it is pretty straightforward. You do have to do this weird thing- blanch the bacon. This gets rid of the smoky, salty flavor that many would argue is the best part about bacon.
I feel like Julia understood this as she made note that this step could be optional. And for those of you who have never seen blanched bacon, you here go:
✽ Step 3: Beat Ingredients
Here's the really simple part. Just beat together the eggs, cream, and seasonings. A little bit of nutmeg is also added into the mix.
Nutmeg is said to enhance the other ingredients in the quiche and takes a quiche from being 'good' to 'great'.
The egg and cream mixture is then poured into the partially baked pie crust and topped with dots of butter.
✽ Step 4: Bake Quiche
It now bakes fully- until quiche has browned and puffed. You are now ready to show up as everybody’s favorite person at brunch with this creamy quiche!
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Edit: These pictures are.. not great. I apologize. When making these early recipes I was working in an extrememly tiny kitchen that had pratically zero counter space and very poor lighting. My only saving grace was that somebody once had one of those pull-out cutting boards installed. What a life saver.
I was also in pharmacy school, getting minimal sleep, working for free, completely broke, didn't know the first thing about taking photos, and knew practically nothing about French cooking (or cooking in general for that matter).
I've debated taking these old posts down but decided to keep them up because they are all a part of my journey. These photos and my written struggles remind me how far I've come! I can pretty much make a good pie dough in my sleep now.
You don't need fancy equipment or the finest ingredients to enjoy cooking and make good food. As one of my favorite cartoon characters, Ms. Frizzle, says, "Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!"
*This blog, Laura The Gastronaut, and this post were/are not endorsed or supported by Julia Child or The Julia Child Foundation.
Category: Julia Child, Entrees and Luncheon Dishes Cuisine: French
Keywords: quiche lorraine recipe by julia child, mastering the art of french cooking recipes, french quiche recipes, classic quiche lorraine, what is quiche lorraine
✽ Did you make this recipe too?
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More Quiche Recipes:
✽ Roquefort Cheese Quiche (a must try for all roquefort fans)
✽ Mushroom Quiche (one of my favorite Julia Child quiche recipes)
✽ Onion Quiche (you just can go wrong with a recipe that calls for a bunch of onions)
→ Check out all of the completed Julia Child entree & luncheon dish recipes!
✽ You can find this recipe and all the other Julia Child recipes I make in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I (affiliate link).
→ Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961.
✽ Check out my Julia Child Recipe Checklist to see a list of all my completed and pending recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking!
Bon appétit!
April 28, 2019 by Laura Ehlers
*This Quiche Lorraine blog post may contain some Amazon affiliate links. These link to products that I personally use and recommend. If you purchase anything using my links, it will not cost you anything. It will though give laurathegastronaut.com some financial support which helps me keep this blog running. Thank you for reading my blogs and your continued support.