The Medlar Comfits Cooking Guide: Lesson 1— Peppering and larding

Pepper a hunk of meat, and the diner can scrape the pepper off or use tweezers to pick it out. But if you want what you shove into that hunk to stay there, then shove it deep inside, deep into the heart of it. That's called larding.

Peppered quince.
Freeze one quince. This allows the sugars to mature so that you use less added sweetness later and the taste of the quince dominates rather than added sweet. Peel the quince. Roll it in a light mixture of cracked rose pepper, black and green pepper, and some crushed cardamon. Bake slowly in a covered dish with a little water added, till it is the colour of a freshly stubbed toe, or a red rose if you must.

Serve on a bed of kasha or couscous, with a drizzle of honey and a dollop of rich yogurt.


Larded Unicorn (vegan version)
Slice unicorn (made of gluten or marzipan) with a thousand cuts, or poke deep holes into it, and shove in what you like. Then smooth over the outside so that nothing shows.

If your unicorn is made of marzipan, then pieces of candied clementine are good.

If gluten, shove anything in. Nothing will save it in the taste department, any more than anything does, a bird filled with birdshot.