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Fish Timbale

A baked fish dish made with halibut, panada, butter, eggs, cream, and spices, served with tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fish Timbale

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Pound the halibut in a mortar until it becomes a pulp.

  2. Pass the pulp through a sieve to obtain 1 cup.

Make the mixture

  1. Mix in the panada, butter, egg yolks, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

  2. Stir well and pass through the sieve again.

  3. Chill the mixture on ice and slowly fold in the cream.

  4. Butter timbale molds and fill them three-quarters full.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the molds in a baking pan with 2 cups of hot water.

  2. Bake for 20 minutes.

  3. Serve with tomato 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. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Nutmeg + creamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Halibut
Forms the main body of the timbale, setting into a delicate, tender structure when cooked.
Panada
Adds body and helps the mixture hold together while it cooks.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture and help it set into a firm, smooth custard-like texture.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, giving the timbale a softer, more tender mouthfeel.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the timbale light and tender after baking.

The step that matters

Fold in the cream gently after chilling. Cream folded into a warm or overworked mixture can separate or loosen it. Chilling on ice keeps the fish cold and firm, so the cream blends in smoothly and the timbale sets evenly with a fine texture.

“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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