Paul Bocuse’s Quiche Lorraine (the chef of the century)

Shortcrust Pastry, the crust

1. Start making the Shortcrust Pastry Dough (¾ Cup or 260 g). The recipes are HERE

2. You will need more or less ¾ Cup or 260 g, but plan to make more as you need to roll out a larger quantity around the ring and then trim

3. Wrap airtight

4.  Then, leave for at least 1 hour in the fridge

You will need to prepare one of the Shortcrust Pastry Dough ("pâtes brisées"):

5. After your Shortcrust Pastry Dough "pâte brisée" is ready and rested in the fridge, roll it out on a well floured surface into a 0.19" (or 13/64" or 0.5 cm) thick circle

The Molds

6. For the mold, I took a pastry ring, but you may find it easier to take a pie pan, that will need to lightly butter

7. Fold the dough, twice, into a wedge

8. Position on top of the mold

9. Unfold, and then press along the edges, and make sure to press in the angles with a knuckle (to make a good looking quiche with 90 degrees angles sides)

10. Cut along the edge to trim the excess dough

11.  Place in the refrigerator

Precooking the tart shell

12. Bocuse then tells us to "prebake" the tart shell, to dry it a bit. Doing this adds a step, but avoids the tart to turn soggy while baking...

13. Prick the tart shell with a fork

14.  Bake in preheated oven at 465 °F / 240 °C for about 15 minutes

15. If you followed all the advice (like cooling down the dough in the fridge), the shell shold not move too much while baking. If it slides too much, you will need to fix it once it's out of the oven

16. For the Bacon, French cooks use "Lardons", which is a thick bacon slab cut into pieces

17. Thick cut is difficult to find in the States, as bacon is usually cut thin

18. To make lardons, I freeze my bacon (the thin slices stick together) and then I cut lardons, about 0.39" (or 25/64" or 1 cm) thick

19. These are what French cooks call "lardons"

20. Fry in an ungreased frying pan until the pieces have browned

21. Pat dry with paper towels

The Batter

22. For the batter, it's easy ! Just whisk together : the Eggs (2), the Whipping Cream (½ Cup or 110 g), the Salt (1 pinch), the Pepper (1 pinch) and the Nutmeg (1 pinch)

23. Optionally, add the Swiss Cheese (½ Cup or 50 g) : Bocuse doesn't do it, but I strongly recommend it!

24. Place the Bacon (⅔ Cup or 125 g) over the bottom

25. Pour the mixture into the pie pan

26. Bocuse dots this pie with diced Butter (2 Tablespoons or 30 g) (I don't do this)

Baking

27.  Bake in in preheated oven at 305 °F / 150 °C, for about 20 minutes. If the quiche colors too much, cover with aluminium foil

28. If the quiche inflates too much while baking, don't hesitate to pinch it with a knife

After baking, let cool down at room temperature, the quiche will shrink slightly

You may eat it right away, even though I prefer leaving the quiche in the fridge 24 hours and then heating it up (I find it tastier)