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Patina de Cydoneis (A Dish of Quinces)

Patina de Cydoneis (A Dish of Quinces) is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for a classic dish of quinces stewed with leeks in a honey, wine and fish sauce stock. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: A Dish of Quinces (Patina de Cydoneis).

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

35 minutes

Total Time:

55 minutes

Serves:

4

Rating: 4.5 star rating

Tags : Vegetable RecipesDessert RecipesAncient Roman Recipes

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Original Recipe


Patina de Cydoneis (from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria) IV, ii, 37


Patina de cydoneis: mala cydonia cum porris, melle, liquamine, oleo, defrito coques et inferes, vel elixata ex melle.

Translation


A Dish of Quinces: Stew quinces with leeks, honey, liquamen, oil, and defrutum and serve; or stew in honey.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

500g quinces
80g leeks, finely sliced
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp liquamen or Thai fish sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
60ml defrutum

Method:

Peel and core the quinces, place the flesh in a pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for about 40 minutes, or until the fruit are tender. Transfer the quinces to a fresh pan and reserve the cooking liquid.

Add the leeks, honey, liquamen, olive oil and defrutum to the quinces then pour in enough of the reserved quince liquid to barely cover the fruit. Bring to a simmer, cover the pan and cook gently for about 30 minutes, or until the leeks are very soft. Serve hot.

As an alternative, simply stew the quinces in honey and cooking liquid reserved from the first pan.

Find more recipes from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria along with information on Apicius and his cookbook, all part of this site's Ancient Roman recipes collection.