Not everyone in France was impressed. Évelyne Muller-Dervaux, grand master of the Brotherhood of the Quiche Lorraine, looked at the dish chosen for the coronation of King Charles III and said: “I think I would call it a savoury tart.”
The object of her scepticism was the coronation quiche, picked by Charles and Queen Camilla as the signature dish of the celebrations in May 2023. The royal family’s website described it as a “deep quiche with a crisp, light pastry case and delicate flavours of spinach, broad beans and fresh tarragon”, to be eaten hot or cold at a communal lunch. The king was crowned on 6 May at Westminster Abbey.
Royal chef Mark Flanagan devised it. The reasons for choosing it were practical: the quiche works at either temperature, is easy and cheap to make, and bends to different dietary needs. The recipe serves six. The pastry uses flour, salt, butter and milk, and the filling adds double cream, eggs, tarragon, cheddar, spinach, and broad or soya beans. Charles is known to like egg dishes, scrambled eggs above all.
Reviews split
Reviewers called the result “surprisingly delicious”, and some tasters gave it an average of 9/10. Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg was less kind. He called it “disgusting”.
The critics of the menu went after the practicalities too. Broad beans were out of season in April, the month before the coronation. Eggs were in short supply in 2023 because of bird flu. Buying the ingredients could run to £14 at a time when the cost of living was biting. Supermarkets, meanwhile, saw a clear jump in sales of quiche and party food before the coronation, and a £2.45 version was on the shelves.
A French quarrel over a name
The naming row came from across the Channel. Laurent Miltgen-Delinchamp, another member of the Brotherhood, offered his own verdict: “I think it would have anyway better reflected the British spirit if they had called it a tart.”
The Daily Telegraph, for its part, reported claims that the dish should have been called a flan.
Sources
- Coronation quiche – Wikipedia
- Coronation Quiche Recipe: The Royal Quiche Chosen By King Charles & Camilla for the Big Lunch | British Recipes | Video | 30Seconds Food
- Coronation of Charles III and Camilla
