The word is first attested in French in 1805, and in 1605 in Lorrain patois. The first English usage — "quiche lorraine" — was recorded in 1925. The further etymology is uncertain, but it may be related to the German Kuchen meaning "cake" or "tart".[1]
History
Quiche is a French dish originating from the eastern part of the country. It may derive from an older preparation called féouse[2] typical in the city of Nancy in the 16th century. The early versions of quiche were made of bread dough but today shortcrust and puff pastry are used.[3] In 1586, they were served at a dinner for Charles III, Duke of Lorraine.[4] Before that, recipes for eggs and cream baked in pastry containing meat, fish and fruit are referred to as Crustardes of flesh and Crustade in the 14th-century The Forme of Cury.[5] Since the Middle Ages, there have been local preparations in Central Europe, from the east of France to Austria, that resemble quiche.[6]
The American writer and cookery teacher James Peterson recorded first encountering quiche in the late 1960s and being "convinced it was the most sophisticated and delicious thing [he had] ever tasted". He wrote that, by the 1980s, American quiches had begun to include ingredients he found "bizarre and unpleasant", such as broccoli,[n 1] and that he regarded Bruce Feirstein's satirical book Real Men Don't Eat Quiche (1982) as the "final humiliation" of the dish, such that "[a] rugged and honest country dish had become a symbol of effete snobbery".[7]
Varieties
A quiche usually has a pastry crust and a filling of eggs with milk or cream or both. It may be made with vegetables, meat or seafood, and be served hot, warm or cold.[8][9] Types of quiches include:
In her French Country Cooking (1951), Elizabeth David gives a recipe for a quiche aux pommes de terre, in which the case is made not from shortcrust pastry but from mashed potato, flour and butter; the filling is cream, Gruyère and garlic.[18]
^Some recipes add cheese, but the traditional Lorrainian version does not.[14]
References
^"quiche". Oxford English Dictionary. OUP. 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2016. - "Quiche", Centre Nationale de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales. Accessed 12 February 2015. This source also notes the first reference to 1805, in J.-J. Lionnois, Hist. des villes vieille et neuve de Nancy..., Nancy, t. 1, p. 80
^Hieatt, Constance; Butler, Sharon (1985). Curye on Inglysch: English culinary manuscripts of the fourteenth century (including the forme of cury. SS. Vol. 8. London: EETS.
Beck, Simone; Louisette Bertholle; Julia Child (2012) [1961]. Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One. London: Particular. ISBN978-0-241-95339-6.
David, Elizabeth (1999) [1950, 1951, 1955]. Elizabeth David Classics – Mediterranean Food; French Country Cooking; Summer Food (second ed.). London: Grub Street. ISBN1-902304-27-6.
David, Elizabeth (2008) [1960]. French Provincial Cooking. London: Folio Society. OCLC809349711.