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Pea Timbales

A steamed pea custard made with butter, bread crumbs, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Pea Timbales

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the peas

  1. Soak the peas in enough cold water to cover them.

  2. Cook the peas slowly for about 3 hours.

  3. Force the cooked peas through a strainer into a bowl.

Make the mixture

  1. Add the melted butter, salt, pepper, and stale bread crumbs to the pea pulp.

  2. Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.

Mold and cook

  1. Butter a steamer mold or custard cup and coat it with a teaspoon of bread crumbs.

  2. Pour the pea mixture into the mold.

  3. Place the mold in a steamer over boiling water and cover.

  4. Steam for 40 minutes or bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 25 minutes.

  5. Remove from the mold and serve.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Peas + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexyl acetate (fruity, apple).

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

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

  5. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Dried green peas
Form the main body of the timbale, cooked down to a smooth pulp that sets into a soft structure.
Eggs
Bind the pea pulp and set during cooking to give the timbale its firm, sliceable texture.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the pea pulp.
Stale bread crumbs
Absorb moisture from the pea pulp and help the mixture hold its shape.

The step that matters

Fold in the beaten egg whites gently. Egg whites trap air when whipped, and that air gives the timbale lightness. Overmixing or stirring vigorously knocks the air out, leaving a dense result after cooking.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Peasthe original
  2. Walnutfits about as well
  3. Lima beansfits about as well
  4. Pecansfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, bread, pepper, egg. 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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