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Egg Timbales

Egg Timbales are small custard-like dishes baked in molds, served with white sauce and catsup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Egg Timbales

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 the custard

  1. Beat the egg slightly in a bowl.

  2. Add salt and pepper to taste, then mix in the hot milk.

  3. Strain the mixture into small molds or cups.

  4. Place the molds in a pan of hot water.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until firm, about 20 minutes.

  2. Unmold and serve with white sauce mixed with enough catsup to achieve a pink color.

  3. Garnish with parsley.

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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  3. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Sauce + parsleytop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,693 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg
Coagulates on heating, setting the milk mixture into a firm, sliceable timbale.
Hot milk
Provides the liquid base that sets with the egg into a soft, tender custard.

The step that matters

Bake until firm, in a water bath. Egg proteins set at moderate heat. Baking the molds in hot water moderates the heat so the custard firms evenly without curdling or becoming rubbery. Removing it too early leaves it runny; overbaking makes it spongy and weepy.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, milk, sauce):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Dillfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, milk, sauce. 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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