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Timbale a LA Reine

A steamed chicken timbale with oysters, celery purée, cream, butter, eggs, and nutmeg, served with chestnut purée and sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Timbale a LA Reine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chicken

  1. Pass the chicken twice through a meat grinder.

  2. Pound the chicken with the panada and rub it through a sieve.

Make the mixture

  1. Add celery purée, cream, butter, seasoning, and beaten eggs.

  2. Cut the oysters into four pieces and fold them into the mixture.

Steam and serve

  1. Put the mixture into a border mold decorated with small diamonds of truffles.

  2. Steam for 45 minutes.

  3. Turn onto a hot serving dish.

  4. Pour the sauce around the timbale and place purée of chestnuts in the center using a piping bag with a large rose tube.

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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  2. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  3. Celery + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,331 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Raw chicken
Forms the main body of the timbale and sets into a firm, tender texture when steamed.
Panada
Binds the mixture and helps keep the timbale moist and smooth.
Eggs
Set when heated, holding the timbale together in a firm custard-like structure.
Oysters
Add moisture and a delicate briny flavor when folded through the mixture.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the texture soft rather than dry.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender texture.

The step that matters

Pass the chicken twice through a meat grinder and rub through a sieve. Fine, thoroughly broken-down meat and panada give a smooth, even texture. Coarse pieces leave a grainy timbale that may not set evenly.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, oyster, butter, egg, cream, nutmeg, pepper):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, oyster, butter, egg, cream, nutmeg, pepper. 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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