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Walnut Timbale with Mushroom Sauce

A walnut timbale steamed with a mushroom sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Walnut Timbale with Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Put the walnuts through a nut mill and mix thoroughly with the bread crumbs.

  2. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  3. Add the shallots, mushrooms, bay leaf, and parsley to the melted butter.

  4. Simmer for 15 minutes.

  5. Pour the contents of the saucepan over the milled walnuts, beaten eggs, and bread crumbs.

  6. Stir to combine and season to taste.

Steam and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture into a buttered mold.

  2. Steam until set, about 1 hour.

  3. Turn out the timbale and serve hot with mushroom 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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  3. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

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

  4. Shallot + lemontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,523 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Walnut + shallottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together440 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture and set it firm when steamed.
Walnuts
Provide the main body, rich flavour and texture of the timbale.
White bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and add bulk so the mixture holds its shape.
Butter
Adds richness and carries the flavour of the aromatics.
Shallots
Add a mild, savoury sweetness and aroma once softened in butter.
Mushrooms
Contribute earthy savoury flavour and moisture to the filling.

The step that matters

Steaming until set. Eggs set as they heat, so steaming gently until firm, not boiling hard, keeps the timbale smooth and prevents it from cracking or becoming rubbery.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, bread, shallot, mushroom, lemon, parsley):

  1. Chestnutfits about as well
  2. Chickpeafits about as well
  3. Peasfits about as well
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, bread, shallot, mushroom, lemon, parsley. 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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