Some thoughts about quiche

Having just consumed the remnants of my first attempt at quiche-making (an modest chorizo and asparagus number), I have a few thoughts I'd like to share.

First, the crust.  The recipe says to pre-bake (or blind bake) the crust.  Believe it.  In fact, if the recipe says to bake the crust until it is lightly browned, go ahead and give it an extra 5 minutes, to medium brown.  The filling is very wet, and it will waterlog a crust that isn't thoroughly prepped.  It won't be bad, but you'll notice the difference.

Second, the custard filling.  I realized, part way into assembling the quiche, that we were short one egg.  If this happens to you, don't panic like I did-- a good basic ratio is 1/3 cup dairy per egg, so if you're an egg down, just reduce the dairy by a 1/3 of a cup.  Easy.  Your quiche may be a little shorter, but that's no big deal.  Check on it a little earlier in the oven, that's all.

Third, cheese.  I thought the quiche could use some, so I grated some cheddar into the filling mix.  There was nothing wrong with it, except that I couldn't really taste any cheese in the final product, and it was a medium strong cheddar.  My advice, especially if you're not following a strict recipe, is to go heavier than you might think with it.

Finally, the assembly.  The instructions I was using said to mix everything together, and then dump it into the crust.  This... kind of worked.  For some ingredients, it might be just fine.  But the chorizo, for example, all ended up washed to the edges of the pan, and so it wasn't well distributed at all.  Instead, I'd recommend putting all the bits into the pie crust first, and then slowly adding the custard until it's as high as it needs to be.  This will also prevent any overspill if your pie plate turns out to be a bit smaller than you thought.  Just for example.