Saturday 4 October 2014

Quinces, Eliot Hodgkin, 1969
Much thought went into planning how to cook my ration of six quinces.

An expert was consulted. Their lovely scent wafted from the kitchen as I baked them, following Sue's advice. (Thanks, Sue.)

Then I made the quince tort dating back to 1662 from this fascinating book.  Here's the original.

Quinces, Parmesan cheese, marzipan scented with orange-flower water, mixed together and baked in puff pastry. (I own up. It did have a soggy bottom.)

The technical challenge, of course, is guessing 17th century oven temperature/timing.

I thought it would be sickly-sweet but it was quite fresh and light. I'd make it again if I could get hold of more quinces.

And it was certainly a talking point.

The serving suggestion of a puff pastry eagle's head stuffed with marzipan and quince is sadly beyond my skills as a pastrychef.

I'd feel mortified serving up an eagle's head with a soggy bottom.

4 comments:

Gina said...

Your quince tort sounds delightful with or without its soggy bottom. I'm glad you didn't try the eagle's head though. Love the painting too.

mary said...

I know my limits, Gina!

mary said...

That sounds lovely, Sue. I'd like to try quince sweetmeats, too - but I think I've probably had my share of quinces for this year.

Lucille said...

I think they should suggest it for a technical challenge on Bake Off next year. How I am missing Simon. He was such a tonic. Thank you for the pointer.