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Dessert

Timbale a L’orange, a L’italienne

A molded dessert of orange juice, zest, sugar, marmalade, and gelatin set in a baked shell.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and gelatin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Timbale a L’orange, a L’italienne

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare and bake the shell

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Grease a timbale mold and line it with buttered baking paper.

  3. Bake the timbale shell until golden and cooked through.

  4. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Add the marmalade

  1. Spread a layer of light marmalade on the inside surfaces of the timbale.

Make the orange filling

  1. In a bowl, mix the orange juice with the orange zest and sugar until well combined.

  2. Add the clarified gelatin to the mixture and stir until dissolved.

  3. Chill the mixture until it thickens slightly, then pour it into the prepared timbale shell.

Set and serve

  1. Refrigerate until set before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Orange + gelatintop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together463 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

  5. Orange + buttertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Orange juice
Provides the main liquid and bright citrus flavour of the filling.
Clarified gelatin
Sets the juice into a firm mixture that holds its shape when sliced.
Light marmalade
Adds sweetness and fruity flavour to the inside of the shell.
Orange zest
Adds concentrated orange aroma to the filling.

The step that matters

Chill until just thickened before pouring. Gelatin sets as it cools. Pouring at a slightly thickened stage keeps the filling from running out through the shell or mixing into the marmalade layer. If it is chilled until firm, it will not pour evenly.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, gelatin, butter):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Peachfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, gelatin, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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