MOUEEL
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fruitperfumed · floral · tannic · honeyed · resinous

Quince

Inedible raw, magnificent cooked. Turns from bone-hard yellow to garnet if you leave it alone.

on its own
3.0sour
3.0sweet
0.0savoury
2.0bitter
0.0umami
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3 of these 26 are wild — theory says yes, nobody has cooked them. why →

26 pairings for Quince.

Pork

common

Long cooking turns quince tannin sweet, which is exactly what pork shoulder wants.

Apple

common

A spoonful of quince gives an apple tart the perfume it never had.

Honey

common

Both are floral and slow; honey covers the tannin quince leaves behind.

Rose water

uncommon

The fruit is already half rose. Water it and the perfume doubles.

Saffron

uncommon

Poaching liquid turns red anyway; saffron makes the colour mean something.

Walnut

uncommon

Two tannins reinforce instead of clashing, and the nut gives fat.

Duck

uncommon

Duck fat wants a fruit that stays firm through the roast. Quince does.

Sausage

uncommon

Membrillo has tannin apple sauce lacks. Slower, and it stays put.

Goose

uncommon

Tannin plus perfume. It does apple sauce work but leaves a longer finish.

Venison

uncommon

Perfumed and tannic. It sweetens without turning the plate into pudding.

Foie gras

uncommon

Tannin plus perfume. It leaves a finish that the fat cannot smother.

Cheddar

uncommon

Membrillo isn't only for Manchego. Perfumed sugar against sour milk.

Stilton

uncommon

Perfumed sugar against mineral salt. Membrillo travels past Manchego.

Minas cheese

uncommon

The Portuguese original of the guava trick: harder paste, sharper fruit, and the curd copes with both.

Oxidised nuts and quince honey are the same aroma family in two forms.

Goat

rare

Goat is lean and rank; quince acid is long enough to reach the end of the bite.

Tannic perfumed fruit and a hard herb, cooked slowly until both go soft.

Membrillo tartness handles the fat the way apple does, with more perfume.

Hard perfumed fruit poached in duck fat goes translucent and savoury.

Lard

rare

Perfumed fruit slow-cooked in pig fat: Iberian, and almost never written down.

Both hard, honeyed and faintly medicinal. The tea is the poaching liquid.

Vanillin under quince perfume makes it read as pear that grew up.

Both floral and resinous. The paste turns into a cheese condiment.

Both floral and resinous. The paste becomes something you eat with cheese.