In The Centre #9 | Poached Quince
With vanilla mascarpone and brown butter amaretti crumb
What’s your favourite fruit?
I enjoy most. But I have a very soft spot for rhubarb, gooseberries, damson and quince. Each of which are hyper-seasonal. And each of which require a little bit of love before they can be eaten. As quince is the only one of those available right now, well that technically makes it my (current) favourite.
This fruit, with its floral and gently tangy notes (once cooked) of vanilla, lemon zest and pear is excellent shoved in a pot with savoury things (lamb in particular — something like this, but also duck); cooked down into a paste to accompany cheese; or pickled and put next to ham, terrines and pork pies. However my preferred way to eat quince is when it’s been poached to sunset pink-orange perfection, with very little else done to it, nor much nearby to distract from it.
The colour, which is accompanied by a perfume that increases in intensity proportionately with the development of sunset, requires a combination of: gentle heat; sweet (but not too sweet) poaching liquor; acid (but not too much acid); and time.
Over the last decade or so of quince cook-offs, I’ve refined the specifics, and I’m certain I’ve landed on foolproof ratios, temperature and timings. The detail used to hang out in rough notes and recipes on my Instagram highlights, and I know many followers over there have successfully used that. But as it wasn’t particularly neat, I’ve deleted that, tidied things up, and repackaged it here to sit as an annual resource — for me and, hopefully, you too.
In this post
So, for paid subscribers this week, there’s:
My tried and tested method and ratios for turning quince from knobbly, hard, astringent, tanin-packed and generally quite stand-offish fruits into glossy, smooth, perfumed, sunset-coloured segments you’ll want to sink into.
A handful of step-by-step videos and images, to help guide you through the process.
I’ve crammed as many photos and videos in as this platform and your email server allow. If it appears truncated, click on the ‘expand email’ at the bottom, or click the ‘view in browser’ button, top right. A few ideas so you make the most of each batch of quince that you post.
Also a more prescriptive recipe: for a vanilla mascarpone cream and brown butter amaretti crumb (a kind of deconstructed quince cheesecake).
Plus pointers to other useful resources.
Sound good? Come on in. Otherwise, see you next week for November’s #Supplemental recipe round-up — there will be squash (and in the meantime, there’s always Good Eggs).
Also, side note, Londoners, if you cba to source or cook quince, head to Quince Bakery, N1 7AA. They’ll sort you out.