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Salmon Timbales

A baked salmon dish formed into a molded shape with bread crumbs, milk, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Salmon Timbales

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the salmon and base

  1. Remove salmon from the can, rinse thoroughly with hot water, and separate into small flakes.

  2. Soak the bread crumbs in milk for 15 minutes.

  3. Cook the soaked bread crumbs over hot water, stirring to form a smooth paste.

  4. Add salt, cayenne, and salmon to the paste.

Assemble and bake

  1. Gently cut and fold in the beaten egg whites until stiff.

  2. Turn the mixture into a slightly buttered mold set in a pan of hot water.

  3. Cover with buttered paper and bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 50 minutes, or until firm.

  4. Serve with French Hollandaise 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. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

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

  3. Salmon + eggtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Milk + salmontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  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

Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the mixture and set into a delicate, airy structure when baked.
Bread crumbs
Soaked in milk and cooked into a paste, they bind the salmon and add a soft, tender body.
Milk
Softens the bread crumbs so they form a smooth paste that adds moisture.
Salmon
Provides the main flavor and protein, held in place by the bread paste and egg structure.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Egg whites hold air only when beaten to stiff peaks. Overmixing or stirring vigorously deflates them, so the timbale comes out dense instead of light. Cutting and folding gently keeps the air in the mixture.

“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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