Name: Quince Marmalade
Ingredients: 2 pounds sharp apples; 2 pounds quinces; 1 pound powdered white sugar; ½ cup water; a little bruised cochineal (tied in muslin)

Why it works: Apple and quince work together. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 506 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Quince Marmalade

Oven, in the book's wordsA slack oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slack oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fruit

Peel, core, and cut the apples and quinces into quarters.
Place the fruit in a jar and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Cover the fruit with water and add the bruised cochineal.

Cook and finish

Set the jar in a cool oven at 300°F (150°C) until the fruit is tender.
Remove the cochineal and pulp the fruit to make marmalade.
Alternatively, boil the sugar and water first, then scald the fruit until tender before adding to the syrup.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Apple + quincetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together506 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together16,478 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Quince + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,444 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

What each ingredient does

Quinces: Provide pectin and a firm, fragrant body that sets the marmalade as it cooks.
Sharp apples: Add natural pectin and tartness that help the marmalade thicken and balance sweetness.
Powdered white sugar: Sweetens the fruit and draws out moisture, helping it become a thick preserve.
Cochineal: Gives the marmalade its red colour; it is tied in muslin so it can be removed.