Why it works: Quince and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118 recipes. Both carry alpha-terpineol, which smells lilac, floral. The science ↓
Baked Quinces
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Wash the quinces thoroughly.
Place the quinces in the oven and bake until soft.
Remove from the oven, cut them open, and serve hot with butter, sugar, and a sprinkle of nutmeg.
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.
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Quince + nutmegtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together118 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Quince + buttertop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together218 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together23,364 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 23,364 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the quince
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Quincethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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