Name: Chicken and Rice Timbal
Ingredients: 1 cup cold boiled rice; cold chicken, diced (breast and second joint); a little cold ham, diced; a few stewed mushrooms, diced; salt and pepper to taste; 1 tablespoon cream sauce; 1 tablespoon white or brown stock; butter for greasing; parsley for garnish

Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓

Chicken and Rice Timbal

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the mold

Grease a mold with butter and line it with cold boiled rice.

Make the filling

In a bowl, combine diced cold chicken, diced cold ham, and diced stewed mushrooms. Season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste. Mix in the cream sauce and stock thoroughly.

Bake and serve

Place the chicken mixture into the mold and cover with more cold rice.
Set the mold in a pan of hot water and steam in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 30 minutes.
Cover the top of the mold with a pan, then turn the mold onto a platter. Garnish with parsley before serving.

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.

Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,172 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
Rice + chickentop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,769 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Rice + mushroomtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,515 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold boiled rice: Forms the outer shell that holds the timbal together and gives it a firm base.
Cold chicken: Provides the main protein, giving the filling its body and substance.
Cold ham: Adds savory, salty flavor and a firmer chew to the filling.
Stewed mushrooms: Contribute moisture and earthy flavor to the filling.
Cream sauce: Binds the filling and adds moisture and richness so it stays tender.

“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.