Quince
I have a bit of an obsession with the fruit. Several times a year I think of Quince. I have to wait until fall to use it though. Now as soon as I see it in the market, I start buying even if I don't know what I'll use it for. This autumn was no exception. With several good specimens in my bag I inhaled the flowery fruity fragrance as soon as I got in the car to remind me why I love this fruit.

I figured this would be a good time to replenish my supply of fresh quince paste (jam, membrillo ...) and I set about researching a new method. In the past I have thought I should learn more about quince. How to tell a ripe quince for instance? How can I get that fantastic red color every time I cook it? Quince does have a rather alchemical nature. It starts out white, but with cooking has a tendency to turn color anywhere from a peachy pink to ruby red.

Ripeness: For those who don't know quince at all it is an apple shaped but lumpy fruit, mostly yellow with a little green. It usually has some fuzz on it which should be easily rubbed or washed off. Ripe Quince as I've found out should be yellow (a little green is OK) with the ripest ones lacking the signature fuzz. I always err on the side of a bit unripe ie. fuzzy, because I usually take several days to a week to find time for my quince projects. Also there is the signature smell. Without that intoxicating scent the fruit is definitely not ready to eat. I've never seen them in the market that unripe but there's a first for everything right?

For my first quince project of 2008 I planned to braise the quince in a bath of water, agave syrup, cinnamon stick and lemon juice. I've done this a few times on top of the stove, but while researching recipes this year I came across a lovely method for braising in the oven. This recipe is great because you don't have to slice the quince into small pieces, just peel, core and cut in half. Be sure to take advantage of the quinces natural abundance of pectin by adding peels and cores along with the whole fruit to your braising liquid. Simply cover the casserole with foil and roast slowly at 325 degrees for 3-7 hours. They are done when they are soft enough to slide a knife through.

This method also called for adding a few apples to the mix in order to keep the quince moist. I didn't really find this necessary, but it did make for some kick ass quince flavored applesauce

Quince Jam

5-7 medium quince peeled, cored and cut in half
2 cups water
3/4 cup agave syrup (or sugar)
juice of 1 lemon (to taste)
1 cinnamon stick broken up
Peels and cores from your quince

Mix your braising liquid together and taste it. Add more sugar or lemon to balance the sweet/tart taste. Pour liquid over fruit, which should be cut side down in the casserole.

When the fruit is finished cooking, separate the apples and some braising liquid from the quince. Using a food mill, run the quince with the peels etc. though until it is ground finely enough for your taste. Set aside to cool. As it cools the quince jam should get quite firm. If you know you don't want it too firm add more of your braising liquid to the mix.

If you used apples put them in the food mill and run them through with a bit of the braising liquid to make applesauce.

I served this quince jam with Thanksgiving turkey.

Quince Galette

For my second quince project a request was made. It was Christmas dinner, and hoping to get a chance to show off I asked if I could make anything to bring. It was a welcome relief when my suggestion for something with quince was met with enthusiasm. "As a matter of fact" said B "I was just looking at a quince galette recipe that I thought would be great." "Plus there is a no fail dough recipe I've always wanted to try." He gave me a 2001 issue of Sauveur to use, and I thought the galette looked divine. I had bought more quince and figured I could add a few apple slices if I didn't have enough for the recipe.

I decided to use the same quince oven braising method as before, but this time to cook it for a shorter time so the slices of fruit would be firmer. Let me say that for the most part I didn't follow the method in Saveur. I did experiment with the quince cooking method they suggested, which was to cook the quince slices in butter and sugar until tender. It felt a little iffy, although I had done the saute pan with butter and sugar with other types of fruit and been successful.I feel that quince responds to slow braising methods best.I used the same method as for the quince jam. I only changed one thing, which was to take it from the oven after 2hours. While I was letting it cool I made the pastry and chilled it. Slicing the braised quince was easy and I reduced the braising liquid to pour over each serving of galette.

Quince for the Galette

5-7 medium Quince peeled and cored and cut in half
2 C water
3/4 C Agave syrup or sugar
juice of 1 lemon
1 cinnamon stick broken up a bit

Braise about 2 hours at 325 degrees, cool and cut into thick slices.

Sorry to say I didn't use the Saveur pie dough recipe. It was one of those recipes that made multiple pie crusts but couldn't be divided. For example it used 1 egg as part of the liquid for 8 pie crusts. How do you divide 1 egg eight ways successfully? So I made my favorite sour cream pie dough.

For the Dough

1 1/2 cups of flour
8 tablespoons cold butter cut into tablespoon sized slices
2 tablespoons of goose fat (use more butter if you don't have this)
1 tablespoon of sugar
pinch of salt
cold cold sour cream

Pulse the dry ingredients in a food processor. Add the fat piece by piece while pulsing the processor.(or by hand use a pastry cutter) Begin to add the sour cream a tablespoon at a time until the dough just comes together. Stop pulsing and dump the dough onto a floured surface. Without overworking, or getting the dough too warm, bring the dough together into a cohesive ball. You can chill it for a little while before rolling it out or just roll it out to a 12-14" circle. Fold it into a quarter round and chill wrapped for at least 30 minutes.

Quince plus Dough equals Galette

Take the dough out of the refrigerator and lay it on a cookie sheet or pizza stone. Arrange the quince slices in circles on top of the dough, starting from the center until you have only about 3" of dough showing all the way around. Gently pull up the edge of the dough and fold over and over again, until the fruit is wrapped in the dough. There will be a opening in the center that you can see the fruit in. Brush egg white on the top of the crust and sprinkle with sugar.

Tips for pie dough:

Cold cold cold Ingredients make good pie dough
Don't work it too much and always chill and rest dough before using
Brush egg white on the raw dough before you fill it to prevent soggy crust.
A little Goose fat or lard or even bad bad Crisco will make a much flakier pie crust.