Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Pastry Timbale
Ingredients
Directions
Make the paste
Make a paste using one pound of flour, three quarters of a pound of butter, four yolks, one half teaspoonful of salt, and one and a half cups of water.
Work it well, roll it one quarter of an inch thick, cover, and set it aside for one hour.
Line the mold
Butter a timbale mold and line it with the paste.
If ornamentation is wanted, cut some noodle paste into fancy forms.
Arrange the pieces in a design on the bottom and sides of the mold, and brush them with a little water before putting in the paste.
With a cutter or knife, stamp out a circle in the paste on the bottom of the mold, but do not remove it.
Cover the whole inside surface of the paste with buttered paper.
Fill the center with flour.
Cover the top with buttered paper, buttered side up; then add a layer of paste, and press it to the paste of the sides.
Set it aside for half an hour.
Bake and finish
Bake it in a hot oven for fifty minutes.
Unmold, take off the circle which was cut in the paste; remove the paper and flour.
Brush the timbale all over, inside and out, with yolk of egg, and place it in the oven to brown.
Fill it with salpicon.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the paste that holds the timbale's shape.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness to the paste, keeping it short and flaky.
- Yolks
- Add richness and help bind the paste while giving it a golden colour.
- Water
- Hydrates the flour so the ingredients come together into a workable dough.
The step that matters
Brushing the timbale with yolk before browning. Egg yolk coats the surface and promotes even browning in the oven, so a thin, even layer gives a golden finish without pooling.
“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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