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Quince Marmalade

A preserved quince spread made with sugar, brandy, and egg white.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Quince and brandy work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 91 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Quince Marmalade

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil and pulp the quinces, then strain through a sieve.

  2. Measure equal weights of sugar and quince pulp, and place them in a preserving pan.

Make the marmalade

  1. Simmer gently while stirring constantly to prevent burning until glossy.

Set and seal

  1. Pour the marmalade into common white saucers to cool.

  2. Once cool, cover with fine tissue paper dipped in brandy.

  3. Seal the paper with egg white and let it cool completely before cutting.

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.

  1. Quince + brandytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together91 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Brandy + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

  3. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Quince + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,444 recipes

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

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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
Their natural pectin helps the pulp thicken and set as it cooks.
Sugar
Concentrates the pulp so it sets firm, adds sweetness, and helps preserve it.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour to the tissue paper covering the marmalade.
Egg white
Acts as a glue that seals the tissue paper to the saucer.

The step that matters

Simmer gently while stirring constantly. Sugar and fruit scorch quickly on the hot base of the pan, giving a burnt taste and dark colour. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly while the mixture reduces and thickens enough to set.

Swap the quince

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Quincethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, brandy, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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