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 Iviaemalade
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Wash, pare, and core the quinces, then cut them into small pieces.
Place the parings and cores in a kettle. Cover with water. Boil slowly until soft.
Make the marmalade
In a porcelain kettle, combine the quinces and sugar. Strain the liquid from the parings over the quinces and sugar. Cover.
Boil over a clear fire until smooth and thick. Stir frequently to prevent sticking.
When cold, transfer to glass jars.
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 + 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 body and natural pectin that help the marmalade set and turn thick.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the marmalade and, as it cooks down, helps it thicken and keep.
The step that matters
Stir frequently over the fire. Sugar-rich fruit mixtures scorch on the bottom of the kettle as the water evaporates. Frequent stirring keeps the mixture from sticking and burning while it thickens.
“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.
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