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Potato Timbal

A baked potato dish with butter, parsley, milk, eggs, and bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Potato Timbal

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 potatoes

  1. Peel the potatoes and cover them with boiling water.

  2. Cook for 30 minutes.

  3. Drain the potatoes and mash them until smooth and light.

Make the mixture

  1. Add the butter, parsley, salt, and pepper, and mix well.

  2. Gradually beat in the hot milk and stir vigorously.

  3. Beat in the eggs until fully combined.

Bake and serve

  1. Butter an oval basin and coat it thickly with fine bread crumbs.

  2. Fill the basin with the prepared potato mixture.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

  4. Let the dish stand for a few minutes after removing from the oven.

  5. Invert onto a hot platter.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the bulk of the timbal, giving body and a soft, light texture when mashed.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the mash a smooth, tender mouthfeel.
Milk
Moistens the mash and keeps it soft and creamy as it bakes.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set during baking, giving the timbal its firm shape.

The step that matters

Beating in the eggs and hot milk. Adding the milk gradually and beating well keeps the mash smooth, while fully combining the eggs ensures even setting. Lumps or unmixed egg can leave the timbal uneven or cause it to break when inverted.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Cinnamonfits less well
  4. Thymefits less well

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