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Ham Timbales

A baked ham custard served in cups with cream sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Ham Timbales

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the base

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

  2. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.

  3. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly until thickened.

  4. Remove from heat and mix in the chopped ham.

Add the eggs

  1. Beat the egg yolks in a separate bowl, then mix them into the ham mixture.

  2. Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill six custard cups two-thirds full with the mixture.

  2. Place the cups in a baking pan filled with hot water.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.

  4. Serve with cream 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Ham
Supplies the savoury flavour and the main body of the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavour in the starting sauce base.
Flour
Its starch thickens the milk into a sauce that holds the custard together.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens into a smooth sauce.
Egg yolks
Enrich the mixture and set when baked, giving a tender, creamy texture.
Egg whites
Trapped air lightens the mixture and helps the timbales rise and set delicately.

The step that matters

Fold in the beaten egg whites gently. Egg whites hold air that gives the timbales lift. Vigorous stirring deflates that foam, which leads to a denser, flatter result after baking.

“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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