I always buy too many quinces. I am so excited when I first encounter them at the market in the autumn. I fill my bag. (I’ve written about my love of quinces here before.)
So it was a good thing that I had already transcribed these two recipes for baked quinces from an early seventeenth-century manuscript cookbook now held at the British Library — Add MS 28319.
The Recipe(s)
hou to bake Quinoces
Take halfe pound of sugar and a dosen of quen
sis and pare them take half an ounce of sinamon
and genger Tak fine flower swet butter and egges and
make your paste thin put in all your stuf and close it vp
An other to bak Quinces
Core your quences and falx faire pare them and perboyel them
in seething licour wine or water or half wind and half water
and season them with sinamon and sugar and put half a dosen
Cloues into your pye amongst then and halfe a dosen sponefull of
Rosewater put in good store of Sugar if you will bak
them a slighter way you may put in Muscadell to spare
Sugar
Both recipes can be used to bake large volumes of quinces into delicious, sweet pies flavored with aromatic spices. The second recipe attends to the distinct toughness of the quince by first boiling the quince in water, wine, or a mixture of water and wine before baking in a lidded pie. There are other recipes later in the manuscript for open-topped tarts full of seasoned pureed quince.
My recreation below takes the method of parboiling in water and wine from the second recipe and combines the flavorings from both. I used sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and rosewater.
(Curiously, this is the only place in the manuscript where the recipe titles mimic printed lettering, instead of traditional cursive forms. Perhaps they were copied from a printed source into the manuscript.)
Updated Recipe
I tested these tarts with this pastry recipe and I have copied it into the instructions below. Feel free to use an historical or modern pastry recipe of your choice.
Parboiled Quinces
2 quinces
1.5 cups red wine
2 cups water
Pastry
1 3/4 cup flour (210 grams, 1/2 lb)
1 Tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter (113 grams, 8 Tablespoons, 1/4 lb)
1 egg
4 Tablespoons water (1/4 cup, added a spoonful at a time)
Filling
Parboiled quinces (above)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1T Rosewater
Optional: milk or egg wash for the pastry
Peel and core the quinces. Cut them into ¼ inch slices.
Put the quinces, wine, and water into a medium sized saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for approximately 20 minutes. The quinces should be tender when poked with a fork. Pour off the cooking liquid and let the quince cool. (This step can be completed in advance.)
When you are ready to assemble the pie, make the pastry. Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Chop the butter into small pieces. Work the butter into the flour mix until a fine meal forms. Add the egg. Add the water one tablespoon at a time. Using your hands and/or a spoon, work the mix until it holds its shape as a ball. It will still feel dry to the touch.
If you are going to bake the pie immediately, put the pastry in the refrigerator to chill and preheat the oven to 450F. Grease a 9-inch pie dish with butter or baking spray. (Either the prepared pastry or the assembled pie can rest in the refrigerator before baking if needed.)
Put the cooked quinces into a large bowl. Add the sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and rosewater. Toss gently to combine without breaking up the pieces too much.
Assemble the pie by first dividing the pie crust into two balls. Roll out the first ball into a large, even circle on a floured surface. Line the 9-inch pie dish with pastry.
Arrange the seasoned quinces in an even layer inside the crust.
Roll out the second crust and place it on top of the pie. Cut off any excess pastry. Use a fork or your fingers to seal the edges. Cut vent holes or slits into the top crust. (At this stage you can add a milk or an egg wash for an especially golden crust.)
Put the pie on a baking sheet and put it in the oven. Bake at 450F for 10 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 350F and bake for about 35 minutes until the pie is golden brown. Cool on a rack before serving.
The Results
A delicious fragrant pie. The flavors of wine, spice, and floral quince and rosewater pair beautifully with the rich pastry. I shared slices with friends and family who loved the flavors and found the dish both agreeably similar to an apple pie and delightfully unique.
I also had the pleasure of sharing the draft recipe with participants in a history skills workshop organized by the Historical Society of Michigan. We discussed how different the seasoning of the pie might be depending on when and how one used the cloves — what if I had added whole cloves to the red wine poaching liquid? what if I had used whole cloves in the pie, instead of ground cloves? Mulling this over, I also wonder how the fruit would taste if I had added whole cloves and cinnamon sticks to the wine during parboiling. If any of you try to spice your quinces or make your a bit differently, please let me know in the comments.
Tartes of strawberryes
Cooking in the Archives 
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