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Cold Veal and Ham Timbale

A cold timbale of sliced corned ham, leg veal, and hard‑boiled eggs seasoned with celery, salt, marjoram, parsley, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,979 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Cold Veal and Ham Timbale

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Line a timbale mold with the paste, placing it on a greased baking pan.

  3. Cut the ham and veal into scallops and the eggs into slices.

  4. Layer the ham, veal, and egg slices alternately with the seasonings.

Bake and serve

  1. Once all ingredients are layered, fill the mold with water and wet the exposed edges.

  2. Bake for 2 hours.

  3. Allow to cool, then open the mold and serve as desired.

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. Marjoram + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  3. Celery + marjoramtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together615 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Parsley + white peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  5. Marjoram + white peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together134 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Corned ham
Provides savory, salty flavor and a firm, meaty texture in the layers.
Leg veal
Forms the tender, mild meat layers that set firm when baked.
Hard boiled eggs
Add a firm, sliced layer that holds its shape and adds richness.
Timbale paste
Forms the sturdy outer shell that holds the filling together while baking.

The step that matters

Filling the mold with water and wetting the edges. Water in the mold helps the filling cook gently and keeps the meat moist, while wetting the exposed paste edges helps the pastry seal so it does not split or leak during baking.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, veal, egg, celery, marjoram, parsley):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, veal, egg, celery, marjoram, parsley. 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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