Recipe: Medieval Quince "Pie"

Recipe Source: Welserin, Sabina.  Das Kuchbuch der Sabina Welserin.  Germany, 16th Century.  Find the original here.

So you already know that I've been playing with quinces a lot lately.  I truly love them, and I get a bushel of them in the fall and just go to town.  I try to find new and different uses for them, although my quince and rosemary jelly is a perennial favorite with my friends.  I love quinces in savory recipes.  In my head they're mostly a Greek or Middle Eastern fruit, although I'm not sure why I should think that.  They certainly grow in cooler climates such as New England.  I decided to force myself to move outside my usual sources and find a non-Middle Eastern recipe calling for quince.  I also wanted to make a medieval recipe for one of our Sunday dinners, so this one seemed to make sense.  After all, I thought, I've made other recipes from this cookbook and I've been delighted with the results.

I was differently enthusiastic about this one, and by "differently enthusiastic" I mean "frustrated and angered by."  I used my traditional family crust but in a whole-wheat version - I'd made several ahead of time for some other reason, so I had them just sitting in the fridge waiting to be used up.  Otherwise I just kind of went to town.  Unfortunately the crust failed miserably.  I did wind up serving it, but scooped onto plates and treated like poached fruit.  I think that the liquid in the filling was just too much for the poor little crust to handle.

My guests loved this.  If I stopped trying to think of it as a pie I loved it too.

Medieval Quince "Pie" (serves 8; approx. cost per serving not available)

1 single-crust pie crust - store bought is fine

4 nice quinces, peeled, halved and cored

1/2 cup currants

1/4 cup raw sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Beef fat - however much you can get, rendered from a package of beef bacon should be sufficient

1/2 cup dessert wine

1/2 cup raw sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Equipment:

• Pie plate
• Bowl
• Large deep skillet

1. Preheat your oven to 425°.
2. Render out your beef fat to the best of your ability.
3. Fry the quince halves in the fat until they are fragrant.
4. Line your pie plate with your pie crust.
5. Arrange your quince halves in the pie plate.
6. Combine the currants, first 1/4 cup raw sugar, first 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves.  Stuff the quince cavities with this mixture.
7. In the skillet, combine the remaining ingredients.  Cook until the sugar is dissolved, then add to the pie plate.
8. Bake until the quinces are tender, about 40 minutes.
9. Serve.

Comments

[Queen of Quince]

The reason you think of quince as Greek or Middle Eastern is that the fruit's origin is Armenia-Georgia-Northern Iran. Turkey is today's top grower. Quince is well loved thruout the region. I'd recommend poaching the quince before using it in a pie next time. The fruit will then add a pretty blush color and supple texture to the dish. The spice combo looks yummy! Quince on!

[Fearless Kitchen]

Your Majesty - I usually would poach the quince before using it in anything, but in this case I was trying to re-create a medieval recipe that specifically called for them to be fried, not poached. I suspect that the idea was that they would poach in the filling while the pie was cooking but that's not what happened. Oh well. Would have gone great with some vanilla ice cream...