Take a bite. Savor the flaky, buttery crust filled with cream, eggs, cheese, and an assortment of ingredients conjured by a creative chef.
Over the years, the recipe evolved. There are many twists and turns in this yummy slice of history.
Let’s go to France and . . . wait. Did quiche come from France?
According to The Kitchen Project, there was an ancient Roman dish called patina – a tart made from eggs and cheese. Autumn Swiers speculated in Tasting Table, that quiche “might have been brought to France by German immigrants from the medieval kingdom of Lothringen [later called Lorraine].” Lothringen was named for Lothar, the great grandson of Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of the Franks (a Germanic tribe), who ruled from 768 to 814.
Charlemagne, compliments of Wikimedia Commons
Germans? The people who brought us knockwurst, sauerkraut, and Volkswagen?
Legend says that during the Middle Ages it was a challenge to feed the masses. Ingredients were limited. Was it in a massive castle kitchen or tiny peasant hut where someone had the idea of making a “modern” patina? A resourceful chef whipped together eggs and cream, poured it into a bread-dough crust, and voila, a dish high in protein, cheap, filling, and suitable for rich or poor.
They called it speckkuchen.
Imagine dining in an elegant, candle-lit French restaurant and ordering a glass of Chardonnay with a slice of speckkuchen?
Fortunately, the name changed.
Baked to Taste noted that “[the word] ‘quiche’ comes from the German word ‘Kuchen’ meaning cake.” Although originally made without cheese, the French changed the recipe and the name to add cheese and other ingredients, calling it quiche.
Sounds a lot more appealing.
Consider this. The 1586 court records of French King Charles (IX) indicated that quiche was a good dish to serve during lean days. Almost 500 years later, another Charles (III) was coronated in 2023 – the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Pierre Guernier wrote in French Moments, that the “official dish of King Charles III coronation [was] quiche.” (see both King Charles’ below, compliments of Wikimedia Commons).
Maybe it had something to do with the name?
History took another twist when in 1871 Germany (Prussia) annexed Alsace-Lorraine – home to Quiche Lorraine. Alsace, neighbor to Lorraine, developed the Alsatian Quiche where the main filling was onions. Food History reported that “[Alsatian Quiche] never became a household term like Quiche Lorraine.”
The story wasn’t over. After World War I, Alsace-Lorraine was annexed again, making it a permanent part of France.
Quiche became popular in England after World War II. By the 1950s, it jumped the pond with Craig Claiborne, then New York Times food editor, and later legendary cookbook author. He popularized the classic quiche Lorraine recipe, including onion, cheese, and bacon.
By the 1970s and 80s, America had created a new quiche version. Alice DeLuca, in The Rambling Epicure, described it as “more of a pie, and a close relative of the casserole . . . almost anything that could be considered main-course fare was served up in a quiche.” Like with pizza, anything worked.
Today you can find classic quiche Lorraine and creative combinations like smoky chorizo and manchego, butternut, sage and hazelnut, and vegan spinach and cherry tomato. Try Israeli leek pashtida quiche, Chinese sausage and yakisoba noodle fusion quiche, Mexican taco quiche – the choices are unlimited with new ones constantly being invented.
If you want to feel royal, try a Coronation Quiche like the one made for King Charles III. It’s a yummy slice of history made with spinach, broad beans, tarragon, eggs, cream, and cheddar cheese (see below).
Bon Appetit!
