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A Border Timbale of Mock Chicken

A molded dish of mock chicken made with milk, flour, walnuts, mushrooms, and a savory sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Henrietta Latham Dwight · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,626 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

A Border Timbale of Mock Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

Make the timbale

  1. Take three-quarters of a cup of rich milk.

  2. Put half of the milk into a saucepan with an ounce and a half of butter.

  3. Let it come to a boil.

  4. Stir in an ounce and a half of dried and sifted bread crumbs and a good half tablespoonful of flour.

  5. Stir constantly until it no longer sticks to the pan.

  6. Remove from the fire and let it cool.

  7. When cold, add two heaping tablespoonfuls of finely chopped walnuts, one tablespoonful of lemon juice, one teaspoonful of onion juice, one even teaspoonful of sugar, a saltspoonful of mace, two eggs unbeaten—one at a time—and the rest of the milk, salt and pepper to taste. Beat hard.

  8. Butter well a border mould and sprinkle with fine bread crumbs.

  9. Turn the timbale mixture into the mould.

  10. Set the mould in a pan of boiling water, cover to keep from browning, and bake from ten to fifteen minutes.

Make the sauce

  1. Put a good heaping tablespoonful of butter in a saucepan and let it brown.

  2. Add a thick slice of onion cut into small pieces and a heaping tablespoonful of flour.

  3. Stir constantly until it is a very dark rich brown, being careful not to let it burn.

  4. Add a quarter of a pound of fresh mushrooms, skinned, stemmed, and cut into dice, and let them cook a few minutes.

  5. Add a stock made from the mushroom stems and skins.

  6. Have a celery root that has been pared and cut into dice and cooked until tender in very little water with a bay leaf and two cloves.

  7. Remove the cloves and bay leaf and turn the rest into the sauce.

  8. Season with pepper and salt.

Serve

  1. Turn the timbale out onto a platter.

  2. Fill the center with the sauce, garnish and serve.

  3. A few truffles are a great addition.

  4. The timbale may also be served with an olive sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

843Calories
32 gProtein
18 gFat
140 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 13 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Mushrooms1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Macenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Henrietta Latham Dwight. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Lemon + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,149 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Mushroom + walnuttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together763 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + mushroomtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,231 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

  5. Flour + walnuttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set when heated, giving the timbale its firm, sliceable structure.
Milk
Provides moisture and a soft, custard-like body in the timbale.
Flour
Thickens the mixture and helps it hold together as it cooks.
Walnuts
Add texture and a nutty flavor to the timbale.
Mushrooms
Contribute earthy flavor and moisture to the sauce.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the timbale.

The step that matters

Brown the sauce base slowly. Cooking the butter, onion and flour until very dark brown builds deep, roasted flavor and color. Heat that is too high or stirring too little can scorch the flour, leaving a bitter taste that spoils the sauce.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, lemon, onion, milk, mushroom, walnut, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, lemon, onion, milk, mushroom, walnut, sugar. 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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