Quince recipes from Mary Eales’s receipts

Mrs. Mary Eales’s Receipts is a British cookbook that was first published in 1718. The 1733 edition is available for free on Project Gutenberg. Not much is known about the author, but the cookbook achieved some degree of popularity. I was led to the book while looking for quince recipes for a recent dialogue that I wrote pursuant to a request. I learned of two of the Eales cookbook’s quince recipes from a page on The Foods of England Project (original, archived). Upon discovering the source material, I learned that Mrs. Mary Eales’s Receipts includes six quince recipes. The cookbook is quite aesthetic, so I decided to reprint the five quince recipes in their entirety. While I am not adding too many additional thoughts to the recipes (they are not within my areas of cooking competence), you will find my adaptation of the recipes into lists below the originals.

Note before we continue that your humble author has never, to his knowledge, had any food that includes quince. Moreover, your humble author does not generally partake in jams, marmalade, or cooked fruits other than squash and peppers. I write report these quince recipes from an outsider’s perspective, from much the same perspective I reported on 1898 recipes for invalids from a British magazine.

Note that I will quote Mrs. Eales’s recipes verbatim, meaning that all original spellings (e.g., marmalet instead of marmalade) will be maintained.

A note on the use of receipts instead of recipes

The use of the word receipt for recipe is not common these days. Moreover, it has not been particularly common for a long while. While this use-case for receipt has fallen out of favor, it remains sound. The recipe example for receipt appeared in its fourth definition in The Century Dictionary (1889-91 ed):

Here, receipt is defined, in the pertinent part, as “[a] formula or prescription for the making of something…” Interestingly, Century noted that recipe had a medical connotation, making cookery the province of receipts (see Century on recipe). Its example in the above clip of a receipt for a pudding is in line Mrs. Eales’s use-case.

To make WHITE QUINCE MARMALET.

Pare Quinces, and quarter them, putting as much Water as will cover them, and boil them all to Pieces to make Jelly; run it through a Jelly-bag; then take a Pound of Quince, pare, quarter, and cut out all the Hard of it; and to a Pound of Quinces put a Pound and a Half of Sugar fine beaten, and half a Pint of Water, and let it boil ’till it is very clear; keep it stirring, and it will break as much as shou’d be; when the Sugar is boil’d to be very thick, almost a Candy, put in half a Pint of Jelly, and let it boil very fast ’till it jellies: As soon as you take it off, put in the Juice of a Lemon; skim it well, and put it in Pots or Glasses: It is the better for having Lumps in it.

Link to original receipt.

Steps in list form

1. Pare Quinces, and quarter them, putting as much Water as will cover them, and boil them all to Pieces to make Jelly;
2. run it through a Jelly-bag;
3. then take a Pound of Quince, pare, quarter, and cut out all the Hard of it;
4. and to a Pound of Quinces put a Pound and a Half of Sugar fine beaten, and half a Pint of Water, and let it boil ’till it is very clear; keep it stirring, and it will break as much as shou’d be;
5. when the Sugar is boil’d to be very thick, almost a Candy, put in half a Pint of Jelly, and let it boil very fast ’till it jellies:
6. As soon as you take it off, put in the Juice of a Lemon; skim it well, and put it in Pots or Glasses: It is the better for having Lumps in it.

To make RED QUINCE MARMALET.

Pare the Quinces, quarter them, and cut out all that is hard; to a Pound of Quinces put in a Pound and a Half of Sugar, and half a Pint of Juice of Barberries, boil’d with Water, as you do Jelly, or other Fruit; boil it very fast, and break it very small; when it is all to Pieces, and jellies, it is enough: If you wou’d have the Marmalet of a very fine Colour, put a few black Bullace to the Barberries when you make the Jelly.

Link to original receipt.

Steps in list form

1. Pare the Quinces, quarter them, and cut out all that is hard;
2. to a Pound of Quinces put in a Pound and a Half of Sugar, and half a Pint of Juice of Barberries, boil’d with Water, as you do Jelly, or other Fruit; boil it very fast, and break it very small;
3. boil it very fast, and break it very small;
4. when it is all to Pieces, and jellies, it is enough:
5. If you wou’d have the Marmalet of a very fine Colour, put a few black Bullace to the Barberries when you make the Jelly.

Additional thoughts

What makes this quince marmalade red instead of white? I will venture that it is the ” half a Pint of Juice of Barberries.” I am no more familiar with barberries (or barberis) in the culinary arts than I am with quinces. Because we are studying a British cookbook, I decided that it would be fitting to refer readers to a 2005 Guardian article about barberry cookery.

Mrs. Eales herself also addressed barberries in more detail in the three receipts immediately preceding the quince receipts. You can study her recipes for dry barberries, preserved barberries, and barberry drops.

To preserve WHOLE QUINCES.

Take a Pound of Quince par’d and quarter’d, cut out all the Hard, put to it a Pound of fine Sugar and half a Pint of Water, and let it boil very fast ’till it is all to Pieces; take it off the Fire, and break it very well, that there be no Lumps in it; boil it ’till it is very thick and well jelly’d; then take fine Muslin, and put your Quinces into it, and tye it up round. This Quantity will make three Quinces. Set them into three Pots, or China Cups, that will just hold one; cut off the Stalk-End of the Quince, and put it in the Pot or Cup, to make a Dent in the Quince, that it may be like a whole Quince; let them stand two or three Days, that they may be very stiff; take them out of the Muslin, and make a strong Jelly with Apples and Quinces: Take two Pints of Jelly and two Pound of Sugar, boil it fast ’till it jellies very well; then put in the Quinces, and let them have two or three Boils to make them hot; put them in Pots or Glasses, with Paper close to them.

Link to original receipt.

Steps in list form

1. Take a Pound of Quince par’d and quarter’d, cut out all the Hard, put to it a Pound of fine Sugar and half a Pint of Water, and let it boil very fast ’till it is all to Pieces;
2. take it off the Fire, and break it very well, that there be no Lumps in it; boil it ’till it is very thick and well jelly’d;
3. then take fine Muslin, and put your Quinces into it, and tye it up round. This Quantity will make three Quinces.
4. Set them into three Pots, or China Cups, that will just hold one; cut off the Stalk-End of the Quince, and put it in the Pot or Cup, to make a Dent in the Quince, that it may be like a whole Quince; let them stand two or three Days, that they may be very stiff;
5. take them out of the Muslin, and make a strong Jelly with Apples and Quinces:
6. Take two Pints of Jelly and two Pound of Sugar, boil it fast ’till it jellies very well; then put in the Quinces, and let them have two or three Boils to make them hot; put them in Pots or Glasses, with Paper close to them.

To make QUINCE CHIPS

Pare the Quinces, and slice them into Water; put them into boiling Water; let them boil fast ’till they are very tender, but not so soft as to break them: Take them out with a Skimmer, lay them on a Sieve ’till they are well drain’d, and have ready a very thick Syrup of clarify’d Sugar; put them into as much as will cover them, then boil them ’till they are very clear, and the next Day scald them; and if you see they want Syrup, put in a Pint more, but let it be very thick: Scald them twice more, then lay them out on Earthen Plates in a Stove, sift them well with Sugar: Turn them and sift them ’till they are dry.

Link to original receipt.

Steps in list form

1. Pare the Quinces, and slice them into Water;
2. put them into boiling Water;
3. Let them boil fast ’till they are very tender, but not so soft as to break them:
4. Take them out with a Skimmer,
5. lay them on a Sieve ’till they are well drain’d, and have ready a very thick Syrupt of clarify’d Sugar; put them into as much as will cover them, then boil them ’till they are very clear, and the next Day scald them;
6. and if you see they want Syrup, put in a Pint more, but let it be very thick:
7. Scald them twice more, then lay them out on Earthen Plates in a Stove, sift them well with Sugar: Turn them and sift then ’till they are dry.

Additional thoughts

There seems to be a hardy range in how much simple syrup can be used in this recipe.

To make QUINCE PASTE

Pare the Quinces, and quarter them; to a Pound of Quince put half a Pound of Sugar and half a Pint of Water; boil it fast ’till the Quinces are all to Pieces; then rub it very fine, ’till there be no Lumps in it, and put to it a Pint of Jelly of Quince, boil’d with as much Water as will cover them, and run through a Jelly-bag; boil the Quinces Jelly together, and to a Pint of it put a Pound and a Quarter of fine Sugar; let it scald, but not boil, ’till the Sugar is melted; skim it, and put it in the Stove; turn it when it is candy’d; twice turning will do.

Link to original receipt.

Steps in list form

1. Pare the Quinces, and quarter them; to a Pound of Quince put half a Pound of Sugar and half a Pint of Water;
2. boil it fast ’till the Quinces are all to Pieces;
3. then rub it very fine, ’till there be no Lumps in it, and put to it a Pint of Jelly of Quince, boil’d with as much Water as will cover them, and run through a Jelly-bag;
4. boil the Quinces Jelly together, and to a Pint of it put a Pound and a Quarter of fine Sugar; let it scald, but not boil, ’till the Sugar is melted; skim it, and put it in the Stove; turn it when it is candy’d; twice turning will do.

To make QUINCE CLEAR CAKES

Pare, quarter, and boil the Quince with as much Water as will cover it, putting in a little more as it boils, but not too much; let it be a very strong Jelly, and run it through a Jelly-bag; put a Pound and a Half of the finest sifted Sugar to a Pint of Jelly; let the Jelly boil, then put in the Sugar, and let it scald ’till the Sugar is melted; then put it through a Strainer, laid in a broad Earthen Pan; fill it in little Pots, and when it is hard candy’d, turn it on Glasses as other Clear-Cakes: Colour the Jelly, if you wou’d have any Red Quince Clear-Cakes, with the Jelly of black Bullace, and let it boil after the Red is in, before you put in the Sugar.

Link to original receipt.

Steps in list form

1. Pare, quarter, and boil the Quince with as much Water as will cover it, putting in a little more as it boils, but not too much; let it be a very strong Jelly, and run it through a Jelly-bag;
2. put a Pound and a Half of the finest sifted Sugar to a Pint of Jelly;
3. let the Jelly boil, then put in the Sugar, and let it scald ’till the Sugar is melted;
4. then put it through a Strainer, laid in a broad Earthen Pan; fill it in little Pots, and when it is hard candy’d, turn it on Glasses as other Clear-Cakes: Colour the Jelly, if you wou’d have any Red Quince Clear-Cakes, with the Jelly of black Bullace, and let it boil after the Red is in, before you put in the Sugar.

Additional thoughts

Mrs. Eales noted an option for colored quince cakes. That called for the Jelly of black Bullace (note that bullace made a cameo appearance in the red quince marmalet recipe). Unsurprisingly, I am not an expert on bullace (WordPress erroneously believes this is a spelling error), which is a type of plum, but you can learn about it in a 2014 article published on The Independent.

Conclusion

While I did not have much to contribute in the form of original commentary, I hope that readers enjoyed these six eighteenth century quince recipes. If anyone has thoughts on the recipes from a superior position of knowledge or decides to try them, feel free to offer your insights.