The Extra Step Julia Child Took With Her Bacon When Cooking Quiche Lorraine

Any cook worth their salt carries with them at least one bit of cooking wisdom plucked from Julia Child. Whether found in one of her books, like the iconic "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", or in one of her television series, such as "The French Chef," her unique methods of food preparation are sure to prove useful to almost any cook (home or otherwise). Her method of using push pins to pierce eggs before boiling, and pre-boiling her poached eggs, for example, are sure to produce a tasty breakfast dish. And, of course, when it comes to egg dishes, Julia Child had plenty of guidance to give. Her quiche Lorraine is no exception to this rule.

Quiche Lorraine is a tart consisting of a savory bacon and egg custard with various other ingredients. it can be made into one large dish, or several smaller tartlets if you use a muffin pan instead of a pie dish. While simple in its components, the brunch favorite certainly makes an impact. Its savory, crispy bacon melds perfectly with the creamy egg and flaky pastry shell, but there is plenty of room for refining its preparation method. Child had one particular tip for taking this quirky quiche to the next level: Simmer the bacon in water. Plunging bacon into bubbling water may seem counterintuitive to producing a perfectly crispy quiche filling. However, if you want to serve quiche a la Julia Child, you won't want to skip this step.

You may be wondering how popping your chopped bacon into simmering water helps produce a better quiche Lorraine. After all, no one wants soggy bacon. However, the process of pre-cooking will help to render some of the pork's fat content and prevent it from turning stiff and brittle once cooked. It will also keep the meat from being too greasy, which could affect the consistency of the creamy quiche filling. While simmering the bacon will reduce some of the rashers' smokiness and salinity, make no mistake — Julia Child's quiche Lorraine is still a positively porky dish.

Luckily, utilizing her helpful technique couldn't be easier.  When preparing your quiche, simply add the chopped rashers to a pot of simmering (not boiling) water for around 10 minutes, you can fish the lardons out and pan fry them. However, if you don't pat them dry with a paper towel first, they won't crisp up properly. You'll also want to pat the bacon dry again once you've achieved some nice browning and crispness so as not to overwhelm the delicate savory custard filling.

While this might seem like a lot of work for just one little component of quiche Lorraine, bacon really is the star in Child's more traditional version, which calls for just rashers and eggs, eschewing mix-ins like onions, shallots, and cheeses including Gruyere and cheddar. Because of this, you may want to opt for a high-quality brand like Hobbs, the bacon Chef Thomas Keller considers the best, in your quest for quiche Lorraine perfection.