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Chicken and Mushroom Timbales

A chilled aspic dish of diced chicken, mushrooms, asparagus, and pimentos set in a gelatinous stock and topped with mayonnaise.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and truffle are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,900 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Chicken and Mushroom Timbales

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Make a stock with the hen and veal knuckles the day before.

  2. Season to taste and simmer for about 5 hours without boiling down too much.

  3. Remove all fat from the stock the next morning and add lemon juice for flavor.

  4. Test the consistency of the jelly.

Assemble and set

  1. Fill individual timbale molds with diced chicken, asparagus tips, halved mushrooms, and sliced pimentos, about two-thirds full.

  2. Pour the liquid aspic over the filled molds.

  3. Refrigerate until firm and cold.

Serve

  1. When ready to serve, remove from molds.

  2. Cover with mayonnaise.

  3. Decorate with truffles or pimentos cut into rings.

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. Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,900 recipes

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

  2. Lemon + asparagustop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together704 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Mushroom + asparagustop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together400 recipes

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

  4. Asparagus + truffletop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together141 recipes

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

  5. Veal + truffletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together815 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Hen
Gives the stock its body and meaty flavor, which becomes the savory base of the aspic.
Veal knuckles
Release gelatin during long simmering, helping the stock set into a firm jelly.
Button mushrooms
Add earthy flavor and a tender, meaty bite within the set aspic.
Mayonnaise
Adds richness and fat that contrasts with the lean, savory aspic.

The step that matters

Test the consistency of the jelly. Stock must contain enough natural gelatin to set firmly when chilled. Too little gelatin leaves the timbales soft and unable to hold their shape when unmolded; reducing too far can make it overly concentrated.

“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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