Novel methods for generating a marker field in turbulent premixed combustion are described. The marker field is used to provide a mapping for the progress variable of the flame reaction. It is conjectured that at low Damkohler numbers conditional moment closure for the progress variable, conditional on the marking scalar, will be feasible. Plausible results are obtained for the turbulent flame structure and flame speed for a stationary, statistically one-dimensional flame. Extension of the method to more complex flows and to flames with complex chemistry seems to be possible. (C) 2004 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.