Meat Lovers Quiche Recipe | Barbara Bakes (2024)

FAQs

Do you have to Prebake crust for quiche? ›

You need a par-baked or fully baked crust if you're making quiche, no-bake pie, custard pie, cream pie, pudding pie, or simply want an extra-crisp pie crust. If you're making a pie that doesn't require a baked filling, you still need a baked crust.

Heavy Cream and Milk – For the best tasting quiche, use a combination of whole milk and heavy cream. (Or simply use half-and-half.) Using just heavy cream produces an overly thick filling. Whole milk is great, but a combo of heavy cream and milk is better.

Use half-and-half as a 1:1 substitute for heavy cream. It can work nearly as well for bringing creamy texture and flavor to sauces, soups and stews, mashed potatoes, quiches, and casseroles. In a pinch, it can even be used for whipping. While you won't get stiff peaks, you can build volume if you work quickly.

Line with the parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans, filling right to the bottom of the crimps. Place the pie tin on a baking sheet, and place in the oven. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the edges are slightly golden brown. Remove from the oven, remove the parchment paper and beans.

Quiche Ratio: 1 large egg to 1/2 cup of dairy

A standard large egg weighs two ounces and 1/2 cup of dairy (whole milk) is four ounces, therefore a handy 1:2 ratio! You'll need to increase the amount of eggs and milk based on the size of your quiche, so knowing the basic ratio makes it really easy to scale up or down.

Classic custards use heavy cream, but 2% milk contains a fraction of the saturated fat and is still plenty rich. Flavor your custard with salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and fresh herbs such as chives, oregano, parsley or tarragon.

Figuring out your proportions couldn't be simpler – for each egg you use, you need half a cup of milk. Too little dairy, and your quiche will be dry instead of creamy. Too much, and it won't set properly.

WHAT IS A FRITTATA? Frittatas are Italian in origin and can be described as a cross between an omelet and a crustless quiche.

While it is not as traditional for quiches such as quiche Lorraine, you can use milk instead of heavy cream for quiche. While the results are not *as* rich as if heavy cream is used, I find that by the time you factor in the cheese and eggs, the quiche is not at all lacking in indulgence.

What is a substitute for 1 cup of heavy cream? ›

If you have butter and milk (whole milk or even half-and-half work best), you can make your own heavy cream substitute. To make 1 cup of heavy cream, melt 1/4 cup of butter and slowly whisk in 3/4 cup milk. This works for most baking or cooking recipes that require heavy cream, but it will not whisk into stiff peaks.

"Some vegetables, such as sliced large tomatoes or raw zucchini, have a high water content and will make your quiche soggy (even if you follow all steps to avoid this!)," Davila notes. Instead, he recommends roasting vegetables such as mushrooms or eggplant before adding them to your egg mixture.

Using too many eggs in the custard results in a quiche that rubbery and too firm when baked, while not using enough will prevent the custard from setting. Follow This Tip: Remember this ratio: 1 large egg to 1/2 cup of dairy.

Salt, cayenne pepper, ground nutmeg: These seasonings flavor of the quiche, with salt balancing the flavors, cayenne pepper adding a slight heat, and ground nutmeg providing a warm, nutty undertone.

In the normal cooking time of a quiche (20 to 30 minutes), the crust doesn't really get soggy from the filling, even if it is quite liquid, as is expected for quiche Lorraine. So, you can without problem cook your quiche without first blind-baking the crust.

"Blind baking" is the term for baking a piecrust before you add anything to the pie. If you don't blind bake the crust, the liquid from the filling will prevent the pastry from becoming flaky and crisp. You'll be left with a pie that has a soggy bottom. (It tastes just as bad as it sounds).

The Best Crust for Quiche

To avoid a soggy bottom, blind bake the crust before adding the filling and baking the quiche. But you can bake a quiche without blind baking the crust and the results will still be good (just less crisp and more prone to sogginess as it sits).

If the bottom crust doesn't set before the filling soaks in, it's going to be gummy. A metal pie pan placed on a preheated surface will set the bottom crust quickest; once cooked, the liquids from the filling above won't soak in, and as a result: no soggy bottom.