Top 8: If real men don't eat quiche, then why are these shop-bought ones so good?
A quiche, yesterday. Pic: iStock.
Quiche has had its moment in the past when Brue Feirstein's 1982 bestselling book took a satirical look at male stereotypes. Though a tongue-in-cheek title, it got people talking about quiche.
Easy, comfort food is on the way back, and our shopping expedition threw up some good readymade versions using top-quality ingredients.
We expect a tasty pastry in our quiches which means the overall tart can end up with 16% fats, and with cheese and eggs 6-9% protein will keep us satisfied for a few hours. Salt in all the samples was nothing to worry about, always under 1% and often a lot less.
Substantial salads can make a supper or decent lunch out of a slice of quiche. Along with lettuce - if in season - use canned chickpeas or lentils with spinach or kale, red peppers, grated carrot, chopped onions (ideally sweet shallots or red), slivered celery, and chopped sweet apple – that’s well over our daily seven requirement – delivering vitamins and textures to pair with the creamy quiche.
Use an air fryer or any oven to reheat quiche, never a microwave for pastry. At a push, you can also sit it on a frying pan and cover with a lid or foil.
This substantial quiche will serve 8 and has enough flavours to stretch it further.
From top chef and former restaurateur, there are no corners cut here and the result is satisfying classical French cooking with extra elements. The pastry made from flour and ground peanuts is particularly good and while the quiche is quite tall, it hold the sumptuous filling well. Top marks from all tasters.
10
Very good shortcrust pastry with loads of flavour in the beetroot and spinach and a delicious creaminess from the cheese makes for a pretty perfect tart/quiche. Very popular with tasters. Another full marker.
10
We tested two flavours of goats cheese and roasted vegetables, and chorizo, sweet potato and tomato, and both were equally delicious in light, firm shortcrust pastry. While larger quiches may be ordered by 3pm the previous day, tasters agreed that this is a nice size for an easy lunch. We bought at the Douglas Woollen Mills café, but also available in The English Market, Cork.
9
With a decent 16% flavoursome Gubbeen chorizo and 21% Irish potato, this is well balanced, full flavoured and has a substantial bite, with an extra lift from chilli and thyme. Light pastry held the filling well. A good product made in Co Wexford. Plenty for two servings.
9
It was a toss-up between this and the broccoli, tomato and cheddar which also had plenty of vibrant flavours. The shortcrust pastry has some wholemeal flour encasing a creamy egg custard scattered with broccoli florets and smoked salmon. It will serve three.
8.25
Ham, egg, cheddar cheese, mustard, black pepper, hickory smoke flavourings sit in a fluffy egg mixture that tasters thought more like scrambled egg. There wasn’t quite enough flavour to lift the egginess, but the flavours were interesting. The pastry wasn’t as firm as we would like, but one junior taster went in for more.
7
Packed with filling, this individual tart would make a substantial lunch. Made with spelt flour, the pastry holds well. Butter, eggs and cream were lifted by the saltiness of the feta.
Good textures, a little under-seasoned but this is never a complaint as salt can easily be added.
8
Creamy goats cheese with cheddar and roasted red pepper is flavoured with warm nutmeg, onion, tomato and garlic purées, basil, thyme and pepper. The shortcrust pastry wasn’t the best we tasted for texture, but it held the filling well. Tasters liked the blend of flavours.
8
