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Timbal of Sauerkraut, German Style

A layered casserole of sauerkraut, pork, sausage, and pate paste baked in a mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Pork and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,208 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Timbal of Sauerkraut, German Style

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Cook the sauerkraut with the salt pork until three-quarters done, then drain and cool.

  2. Prepare a timbal mold and line it with pate paste.

Layer and bake

  1. Layer sausage meat mixed with fine herbs at the bottom of the mold.

  2. Add a layer of sauerkraut, followed by thin slices of salt pork and fresh fillet of pork.

  3. Repeat layering until the mold is full.

  4. Cover the top with pate paste and place a buttered paper cover over it.

  5. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1.5 hours.

Serve

  1. Remove the paper cover, turn the timbal onto a dish, and remove the mold.

  2. Make a hole in the center and add a few spoonfuls of Madeira wine sauce.

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. Pork + meattop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,208 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Madeira wine + saucetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together230 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Meat + saucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,167 recipes
  4. Pork + saucetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,666 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Pork + madeira winetop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together211 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

What each ingredient does

Sauerkraut
Provides a tangy, moist filling that contrasts with the rich meats.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor that moistens the lean filling as it cooks.
Fresh fillet of pork
Forms the tender meat layers that set firm as the timbal bakes.
Sausage meat
Adds seasoned richness and fat to the layers, flavored by the fine herbs.
Pate paste
Forms the encasing crust that holds the layers together in the mold.

The step that matters

Cooling and draining the sauerkraut before layering. Excess liquid from the sauerkraut would make the timbal watery and can keep the pastry lining from crisping, so the kraut should be well drained and cool before it goes into the mold.

“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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