Deep Dish Quiche Lorraine

A very involved recipe, but one sure to please. Just making the crust takes a full day - the most ingenious part is brushing it with egg white after cooking (to for a barrier to the liquid filling, keeping the crust crunchy). A lot of bacon, spiced perfectly (nutmeg and cayenne), and Gruyere cheese made this a big hit with the teenager.

I was worried that the custard might spill over into my new oven, so I put ~ 1/2C in each of two custard dishes. These were done more quickly, and also delicious on their own, with neither crust nor bacon.

This recipe illustrates how starch and egg proteins work together. Egg protein that encounter heat unfold, and then randomly re-bond (coagulate) with other proteins. Lots of things affect the coagulation - temperature (180ËšF is necessary if you've added things like dairy or sugar) - additions (dairy) - and stirring. This recipe concentrates on the role of starch - in this case corn starch. The corn starch binds to the egg's proteins, and causing coagulation temperature to increase, but importantly, prevents the egg proteins from making too tight and strong a network. That strong network can cause the network to "break", and essentially squeeze the water out. Starch added to pastry cream protects the protein network in the same way.