Every once in a while, I read a recipe that strikes me like a thunderbolt, and I can’t quite rest until I make it and eat it. This happened with Thomas Keller’s Roquefort and Leek Quiche; the recipe and an article are here.

It’s made in a 2 inch high ring mold. And that makes all the difference in the world. Instead of a thin, eggy custard overpowered by a mealy crust (as I’d generally pictured quiche before), the custard here has the room to develop an almost liquid silkiness while the pastry remains crisp and flaky. Even for reluctant crust-eaters like me, the crust is a marvel that balances the creaminess and strong flavors of the custard.

In Bouchon and in the linked article, Keller explains the benefits of his 2 inch quiche. Since it needs such a long time to cook (about 1.5 hours), the flavors have time to develop and distribute themselves evenly. Also, since quiche doesn’t have the protection of a water bath, it needs the volume to cook slowly and evenly. In shorter quiches, risks are high that either the custard will overcook in trying to fully bake the crust or that the crust will become soggy while trying to gently heat the custard.

His technique of using a blender for the egg mixture also encourages a lighter texture and it helps to suspend the ingredients. I was concerned by the large amount of froth when I poured the egg mixture into the crust, but it settled and turned out uniform.

Luckily, we were asked to research quiche recipes to make for culinary school earlier this week, so I was able to make this with a ring mold at school, though mine was 8 inches diameter instead of 9 inches. I’m tempted to buy one purely to make this quiche, but I might experiment with using a springform ring without the bottom, or even a cake pan.

Also, we had Point Reyes Blue Cheese instead of Roquefort, and it worked out nicely The tangy blue cheese and the mellow leeks produced an amazing flavor to match the silky texture. He also suggests other classical quiche flavorings such as bacon and onion, spinach, and wild mushroom.

Give yourself plenty of time for this. I made the dough the day before, and even though we started in the kitchen at 8am, it wasn’t quite cool enough to cut by noon. The crust needs plenty of time to rest and bake and cool, the leeks have to be blanched and cooled and squeezed dry, the milk and cream need to be scalded and then blended with the eggs and seasonings, and finally the whole thing needs to bake for about 1.5 hours, and then cooled for a while. Keller recommends serving it the day after you make it, either cold or heated at 375 for 15 mins.

It’s not hard or even continuous work, though, and the results are amazing. In fact, it’s so silky, I was endlessly confused when it came out out of the oven. I had to keep taking bites to figure out what had happened and whether it was cooked all the way through–the texture was like nothing I’d had before, except maybe something like foie gras, and the color was like ivory.

I also happen to think that the drum-like shape is beautiful.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 5th, 2006 at 10:35 pm and is filed under Culinary School, Highly Recommended, Recipes - Savory. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.