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 ↓
Quince Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the quinces
Stew quinces in enough water to cover them by three parts until tender.
Remove the quinces and let them cool.
Press the quinces through a sieve.
Make the paste
Cook the puree over low heat, stirring constantly until it forms a dry paste.
Weigh the fruit and mix it with an equal amount of pounded sugar.
Stir the mixture continuously until it forms a large ball that pulls away from the pan.
Set and store
Press the paste into shallow pans.
Cut into small squares once cooled.
If needed, dry the squares gently.
Store them in tin cases with parchment paper between layers.
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
- Provide the fruit, pectin and flavour that form the paste when cooked down.
- Pounded sugar
- Sweetens the paste and, with long stirring, helps it thicken into a firm, sliceable block.
The step that matters
Stir the mixture continuously until it forms a large ball that pulls away from the pan.. Quince puree sticks and scorches easily over heat. Constant stirring prevents burning, and cooking until the mass pulls away from the pan shows enough water has evaporated for the paste to set firm when cooled.
“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.