“Recipe: Quince 4 Ways”

Ingredients

For the Poaching, Soup & Granité:
• 4 quinces
• 1 liter moscato wine
• 500 ml water
• 400 g sugar
• 15 ml lemon juice
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 star anise
• 1/3 vanilla bean
• 5 sprigs of rosemary
For the Pâté de Fruits:
• 360 g quince poaching liquid (from above)
• 75 g pectin
• 200 g glucose / corn syrup
• 25 g citric acid or 30 ml lemon juice

Instructions

For the Poached Quinces:
1. Peel the quinces, cut them in half and remove the cores with a melon baller.
2. Combine the wine, water, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon stick, star anise, vanilla bean and rosemary sprigs in a sauce pan and place the quince halves in the liquid. Cover the quinces with a parchment lid and bring to a simmer. Let them poach for 1 hour at a simmer or until completely soft. The quinces and poaching liquid will turn pink toward the end of cooking.
For the Quince Soup:
3. Reserve 4 of the quince halves and puree them in a blender, adding poaching liquid as need until a desired consistency is achieved. Reserve and let cool.
For the Quince Granité:
4. Reserve 360 g. of poaching liquid for the pâtés de fruits and pour the rest into a hotel pan and place in the freezer.
For the Quince Pâtés de Fruits:
5. Bring 360 g. of poaching liquid to a boil. Add the lemon juice and corn syrup and simmer. Sprinkle in the pectin while whisking constantly and bring the temperature of the mixture to 227° F. Cook at this temperature for 5 minutes while skimming the top.
6. Sprinkle a sheet tray with water and line it with plastic wrap. This will make the jellies easy to remove once they're set. Pour the mixture onto the plastic covered tray and let cool until completely set. Once cool, the jellies can be cut into squares and tossed in sugar.
For the Finish:
7. To serve, pour a fourth of the quince soup into the bottom of a bowl. Set a poached quince half on top with the open side facing up. Scrape the granite with a spoon until fluffy and add a spoonful on top of the quince. Garnish with of the pâtés de fruits and a sprig of rosemary.
8. The poached quince becomes soft and candied, making it only slightly firmer than the quince soup. The granite is another soft texture, but much colder. And the jelly candy intensifies the quince’s natural pectin, adding a fourth texture and deeper pink color.