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Ah, quiche. The savory French egg tart that often shows up on brunch menus in the form of Quiche Lorraine, spinach quiche, or some other equally cheesy and delicious variation.
Growing up in a Chinese-Vietnamese household, I didn’t know quiche existed until I moved out of my parents’ home and ventured into the real world, learning to cook and order things without my parents’ influence. The first quiche I laid eyes on was from a small café in the West Village in Manhattan. I didn’t know what to make of it at first. It was in the shape of a pie, but it wasn’t…sweet? Intrigued, I ordered a slice.
It only took one bite for me to understand how something can be crunchy, buttery, rich, creamy, and savory—all at once. It didn’t take long before I tried to recreate a quiche at home. To my disappointment, nailing this eggy tart is trickier than you think. If you don’t blind bake the crust long enough, you end up with—as they say in the “Great British Baking Show”—a soggy bottom. Bake the crust too long, and it’ll be rock-hard, prone to shattering when you try to slice it.
And that's only speaking to the crust. The filling? That's a whole other story. To save you the details of many kitchen mishaps, let's just agree that quiche can be finicky.
For a while, I just threw in the towel and left it to the professionals to make. That’s until I stumbled on a video from chef Ayesha Nurdjaja. The video features Nurdjaja’s mother, who claims that Julia Child once shared a tip with her that forever changed how she makes quiche. And now, it’s changed mine, too.
Julia Child's 'Magic Quiche Ratio'
Nurdjaja, the chef behind New York City’s Shuka and Shukette restaurants, once shared in an interview: “My mother is probably one of the best cooks or chefs that I’ve ever known. Anything that she touches is gold.”
Given how often Nurdjaja's mom appears on her social media channels, it's evident she is her mom's biggest fan. And in her latest post featuring her culinary hero, Nurdjaja looks at the camera and says, "Most importantly, take my mother’s magic quiche equation away from this—that Julia child told her.”
What's the magic equation, you ask? According to Nurdjaja's mom: "Three eggs and enough milk to make a cup and a half of liquid." Yes, it's that easy.
In another video that follows Nurdjaja and her mom through the cooking process of the quiche recipe, we see them using a standard Pyrex measuring cup to mix the eggs and milk in. I’ll stop here and say—any liquid measuring cup will do, just as long as you hit that sweet spot of one and a half cups of liquid. From there, feel free to customize your quiche as your heart desires. Want a pop of acidity? Try tossing in some diced tomatoes. Craving a hit of umami? A handful of Parmesan might do the trick.
As someone who already thinks of recipes as an outline to follow loosely and modify as I see fit, I love cooking tips like this. They're low stakes, casual, and, in some ways, remind me why I like to cook in the first place. If baking is about precision and chemistry, cooking is more easy-going and favorable to a sprinkle of this, a shake of that, and honestly? That's way more fun.
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