Quince Jelly

This recipe is based on the 1920s recipe for pomegranate jelly. The cochineal can be used to add colour for a deeper red.

Quince Jelly

3-4 quinces 

1 cooking apple (preferably Golden Delicious or Granny Smith)

250 ml water

1 lemon, peeled and juiced

120g white sugar

1 egg white and egg shell

5 leaves gelatine

1 teaspoon cochineal (optional)

Wash but do not peel the quinces and apple, slice and place in a preserving pan. Cover with water, bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer 2-3 hours. Strain the fruit through a fine sieve. It should yield 500-550 ml juice.

Whisk the egg white with a little water.

Put the quince and apple juice, the water, a little lemon juice and the rind, sugar, egg white and the egg shell into an enamel saucepan. Over a gentle heat, whisk the mixture until it comes to the boil; skim.


Meanwhile, soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 to 7 minutes; remove the gelatine mass and gently squeeze out the water.

  

Take the pan off the heat, stir in the gelatine and cochineal (if used), cover the pan; let it stand ten minutes.

Pour a kettle of boiling water through a jelly bag (or a piece of muslin or a clean tea-towel) to warm it. When the water has drained off, pour in the jelly and let it strain into a wetted mould. (I put the wetted jelly mould in a large saucepan, placed the sieve across the top and draped the warm wet muslin across the sieve.) Refrigerate the jelly for at least 3 hours, or overnight, to set.

Episode 10 - Death by Miss Adventure

This week's episode features Phryne Fisher as usual, but it isn't based on any of Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher novels. The similar-sounding Death by Misadventure is an alternative title for Cocaine Blues, used by the U.S. publisher.

According to the ABC TV website, in Death by Miss Adventure Phryne investigates the death of a young female worker in a factory ‘accident’ and soon learns that the woman’s death might not be the misadventure the police think it is. Phryne's companion Dot is sent to the factory to work undercover as a tea-lady... It's a linking episode in which the killer suspected of abducting and murdering Phryne's sister comes back into the story. And there's a lesbian love triangle.

Since there's no actual novel to work with, this week's menu comes from Argus recipes published in April 1928. It's the sort of food a hard-working factory girl might enjoy:

Oyster Soup

Mutton (or Lamb) Pie

Quince Jelly and Cream