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Caerot Timbals

A baked dish of grated carrots mixed with cream, eggs, salt, and pepper, set in small cups.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Caerot Timbals

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. Boil the carrots in unsalted water until tender.

  2. Grate the cooked carrots and mix with cream, beaten eggs, salt, and pepper.

  3. Fill small cups with the mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the cups in a pan of boiling water.

  2. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 30 minutes.

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. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Carrot + creamtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,215 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  5. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

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

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Carrots
Provide the bulk and mild sweetness, and become a smooth base when grated.
Eggs
Set the mixture as they cook, giving the timbales their firm, sliceable structure.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, giving the custard a softer, silkier texture.

The step that matters

Placing the cups in boiling water. A water bath moderates the oven heat around the cups, so the egg custard sets gently and evenly instead of curdling, cracking or turning rubbery at the edges.

Swap the carrot

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

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, 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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