The Royale Treatment
First off, I must apologize for the two week absence. As one might imagine, those of us with my particular skills can become overburdened with the demands of society. It is a thankless job…
Well, actually, I left a couple of things a little late at work and when I was inevitably given more “urgent work”, I was left a little behind. C’est la vie dans l’AECL – boom or bust, bored or busy…
Onwards to the topic of the day. On the weekend, Jenn and I enjoyed a lovely day in Ottawa, shopping, eating and visiting two pairs of friends. As is almost always the case, I dragged everyone into a couple of kitchen stores and ended up yapping with the salespeople about knives. Always about knives. I think that I have a fetish. Needless to say, neither did I purchase the $330 folded-steel 10-inch Chef’s knife that they had me drooling over, nor the $150 razor-sharp Japanese Santoku Knife that they assured me I could sharpen at home (remind me to go on that rant at a later time). I did however, buy a 9" x 2” tart pan with a removable bottom that I had been looking for. The removable bottom makes it especially useful when it comes to de-panning and the wavy edge makes for a extra-crispy crust. I figured that for $23, I couldn’t go wrong.
On the way home that night, very late that night, I found myself with some thoughtful time on my hands (as my passenger was asleep – surprise, surprise). I began thinking about the day’s acquisition of culinary knowledge, and eventually turned to how to use my new pan. I recalled quiche. Quiche: simple, very tasty, and as an added bonus, the pan’s unique architecture would lend itself very well to quiche. With my new found pie pastry recipe in hand, I was assured success.
Quiche is basically a pie filled with an egg custard, a few flavourful fillings, and baked until set. In order to truly understand and be one with the quiche, we must understand the nature of the custard…
The custard used in quiche is very simple. The French call it a “royale” and it consists of 1 cup of half-and-half or heavy-cream and two eggs, thoroughly combined. This would be enough for an 9” quiche (the standard size of a pie pan). When cooked, the proteins in the eggs, which are first repulsed from each other by their negative charge, unfold and then tangle with each other, forming a network. This network traps liquid and thickens the custard. Once the proteins set again, you have a stable, fluffy foam; a lightly souffled texture is achieved by a small amount of expansion of the trapped liquid by the heat of the oven. The cream adds flavour and the salts help to denature (i.e. unfold) the egg proteins, which wouldn't denature otherwise (i.e. you can't make quiche with water, sorry, but then again, why would you want to). A similar process is used for custard cooked on the stove (usually in a double boiler), but resulting in a smoother, gel-like custard, and usually with a higher proportion of eggs.
One must be careful though, for there be dragons lurking. When the egg proteins set, they will continue to contract. If this process continues to far, the contraction will squeeze moisture out of the foam, resulting in a watery quiche, known as “weeping”.
So the process of making a quiche goes like this. Prepare a crust, prepare some tasty fillings, pre-bake the crust (to prevent soggyness), add fillings, add royale, bake until set, rest and enjoy. It’s really that simple. Just observe these simple “suggestions” (i.e. rules)…
Keep the fillings to three or less, not including cheese. More than three fillings tend to overwhelm each other, muddling the flavours. Also, any fillings that require cooking (bacon, asparagus etc.) should be precooked, as they won’t get sufficient heat in the custard.
Never forget the seasoning. A little bit of salt and pepper is must, and tradition says nutmeg. I don't think I have to tell you that if you're not using freshly grated nutmeg, straight from the nut (that what she said!), then you might as well be adding pencil shavings. Oh, I also like a little bit of ground coriander, which I add almost always with pepper, for some added flavour interest.
Don’t overfill the quiche. There is a tendency to put in lots of fillings, but this will not allow good integration of the royale and tends to make a quiche consisting of fillings topped with custard - not good. In addition, the custard will puff up substantially and you don’t want quiche all over your oven, you want it on your plate!
Lastly, don’t overcook the quiche. As with all egg dishes, the quiche is done just before you think it is. If the quiche is completely set inside, it’s probably overcooked. I can’t really give precise rules on cooking times, but if you start checking it when the top starts to brown and pull it from the oven when there is just a hint of runniness left, you should be good. The quiche must then rest for 5-10 minutes to allow the proteins to cool and set, thus making the quiche slicable.
I suppose that with all this talk of quiche, I should probably give some suggestions on filling. The first is Quiche Lorraine. While traditionally just including bits of browned bacon, today it has morphed into pretty much any combination of bacon, onion and cheese. I personally enjoy emmental, but any semi-soft cheese with similar flavour (i.e. strong but not too strong, if you get my drift) will be good. Quiche is really good for experimentation. If one was too add some pre-cooked and well drained spinach to the mix, you would have Quiche Florentine. I made a smoked salmon and smoked gouda quiche that was very tasty. As always, let me know if you find any über-tasty combination.
Well, there you have it, quiche explained. Hopefully the work-load will subside and I’ll actually be able to get a post in on-time next week, but we’ll see. The MS Bike Tour from Ottawa to Kemptville goes this weekend, and I be riding with team Critical Dischord. There’s still time to donate: go to https://msofs.mssociety.ca/2009bike/lookup.aspx?L=2 and search for me under “Rauket”.
Oh, and if there’s any representatives of MAC or Kershaw Shun reading this, I’d love to write reviews of the knives, if only I had some samples…
Well, actually, I left a couple of things a little late at work and when I was inevitably given more “urgent work”, I was left a little behind. C’est la vie dans l’AECL – boom or bust, bored or busy…
Onwards to the topic of the day. On the weekend, Jenn and I enjoyed a lovely day in Ottawa, shopping, eating and visiting two pairs of friends. As is almost always the case, I dragged everyone into a couple of kitchen stores and ended up yapping with the salespeople about knives. Always about knives. I think that I have a fetish. Needless to say, neither did I purchase the $330 folded-steel 10-inch Chef’s knife that they had me drooling over, nor the $150 razor-sharp Japanese Santoku Knife that they assured me I could sharpen at home (remind me to go on that rant at a later time). I did however, buy a 9" x 2” tart pan with a removable bottom that I had been looking for. The removable bottom makes it especially useful when it comes to de-panning and the wavy edge makes for a extra-crispy crust. I figured that for $23, I couldn’t go wrong.
On the way home that night, very late that night, I found myself with some thoughtful time on my hands (as my passenger was asleep – surprise, surprise). I began thinking about the day’s acquisition of culinary knowledge, and eventually turned to how to use my new pan. I recalled quiche. Quiche: simple, very tasty, and as an added bonus, the pan’s unique architecture would lend itself very well to quiche. With my new found pie pastry recipe in hand, I was assured success.
Quiche is basically a pie filled with an egg custard, a few flavourful fillings, and baked until set. In order to truly understand and be one with the quiche, we must understand the nature of the custard…
The custard used in quiche is very simple. The French call it a “royale” and it consists of 1 cup of half-and-half or heavy-cream and two eggs, thoroughly combined. This would be enough for an 9” quiche (the standard size of a pie pan). When cooked, the proteins in the eggs, which are first repulsed from each other by their negative charge, unfold and then tangle with each other, forming a network. This network traps liquid and thickens the custard. Once the proteins set again, you have a stable, fluffy foam; a lightly souffled texture is achieved by a small amount of expansion of the trapped liquid by the heat of the oven. The cream adds flavour and the salts help to denature (i.e. unfold) the egg proteins, which wouldn't denature otherwise (i.e. you can't make quiche with water, sorry, but then again, why would you want to). A similar process is used for custard cooked on the stove (usually in a double boiler), but resulting in a smoother, gel-like custard, and usually with a higher proportion of eggs.
One must be careful though, for there be dragons lurking. When the egg proteins set, they will continue to contract. If this process continues to far, the contraction will squeeze moisture out of the foam, resulting in a watery quiche, known as “weeping”.
So the process of making a quiche goes like this. Prepare a crust, prepare some tasty fillings, pre-bake the crust (to prevent soggyness), add fillings, add royale, bake until set, rest and enjoy. It’s really that simple. Just observe these simple “suggestions” (i.e. rules)…
Keep the fillings to three or less, not including cheese. More than three fillings tend to overwhelm each other, muddling the flavours. Also, any fillings that require cooking (bacon, asparagus etc.) should be precooked, as they won’t get sufficient heat in the custard.
Never forget the seasoning. A little bit of salt and pepper is must, and tradition says nutmeg. I don't think I have to tell you that if you're not using freshly grated nutmeg, straight from the nut (that what she said!), then you might as well be adding pencil shavings. Oh, I also like a little bit of ground coriander, which I add almost always with pepper, for some added flavour interest.
Don’t overfill the quiche. There is a tendency to put in lots of fillings, but this will not allow good integration of the royale and tends to make a quiche consisting of fillings topped with custard - not good. In addition, the custard will puff up substantially and you don’t want quiche all over your oven, you want it on your plate!
Lastly, don’t overcook the quiche. As with all egg dishes, the quiche is done just before you think it is. If the quiche is completely set inside, it’s probably overcooked. I can’t really give precise rules on cooking times, but if you start checking it when the top starts to brown and pull it from the oven when there is just a hint of runniness left, you should be good. The quiche must then rest for 5-10 minutes to allow the proteins to cool and set, thus making the quiche slicable.
I suppose that with all this talk of quiche, I should probably give some suggestions on filling. The first is Quiche Lorraine. While traditionally just including bits of browned bacon, today it has morphed into pretty much any combination of bacon, onion and cheese. I personally enjoy emmental, but any semi-soft cheese with similar flavour (i.e. strong but not too strong, if you get my drift) will be good. Quiche is really good for experimentation. If one was too add some pre-cooked and well drained spinach to the mix, you would have Quiche Florentine. I made a smoked salmon and smoked gouda quiche that was very tasty. As always, let me know if you find any über-tasty combination.
Well, there you have it, quiche explained. Hopefully the work-load will subside and I’ll actually be able to get a post in on-time next week, but we’ll see. The MS Bike Tour from Ottawa to Kemptville goes this weekend, and I be riding with team Critical Dischord. There’s still time to donate: go to https://msofs.mssociety.ca/2009bike/lookup.aspx?L=2 and search for me under “Rauket”.
Oh, and if there’s any representatives of MAC or Kershaw Shun reading this, I’d love to write reviews of the knives, if only I had some samples…
Good luck with that bike tour. Maybe some of that Quiche would go nice after the tour. Had some Quiche for Dinner.Thanks for the lesson.
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