Quinces from the tree at my aunt's, halved with the heaviest knife in the drawer and a great deal of swearing. Sugar, a strip of lemon peel, a bay leaf, water to come halfway.
Covered, in a very low oven, for three hours. They go from pale and hard to deep red on their own; there is no step where you do anything.
What goes wrong
Rushing the oven. At a higher temperature they go soft without going red, and the colour is the whole reward.
