Why it works: Quince and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,444 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Baked Quinces
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Pare and quarter the quinces, removing the seeds.
Place the quinces in a baking dish and add enough water to cover them.
Sprinkle the sugar over the quinces.
Bake
Cover the dish and bake for 1 hour.
After baking, remove the quinces and place them in a covered dish.
Make the syrup and serve
Pour the syrup back into the saucepan and boil for 20 minutes.
Pour the syrup over the quinces and let them cool.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Quince + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,444 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Quinces
- Firm fruit that softens into a tender texture during long, slow cooking in liquid.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and thickens the cooking liquid into a syrup as it reduces.
The step that matters
Covering the dish during the bake. Quinces are hard and fibrous raw and need slow, moist cooking to become tender. If the dish is uncovered or the fruit is left out of the liquid, the surface dries and the fruit can stay tough.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
You might also like
Quince Jelly131 recipes
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.