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Ham Timbales

A baked ham and cream mixture shaped into timbales, served with cream sauce and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Ham Timbales

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 mixture

  1. Beat the eggs in a bowl.

  2. Add the cream and boiling water, then mix in the ham, bread crumbs, salt, and paprika.

  3. Mix thoroughly and pour into buttered timbale molds.

Bake

  1. Place the molds in a baking dish lined with several folds of paper.

  2. Surround the molds with boiling water and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until firm in the center.

Serve

  1. To serve, turn the timbales out of the molds and surround with cream sauce.

  2. Garnish each timbale with a sprig of parsley.

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. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  2. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Bread + peastop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexyl acetate (fruity, apple).

  4. Peas + parsleytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,885 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the mixture into a firm, sliceable custard when baked.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, giving the timbales a tender, smooth texture.
Ham
Provides the main savory flavor and body of the timbales.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and help give the timbales a soft, light body.

The step that matters

Bake in a water bath. Surrounding the molds with boiling water and lining the dish with paper moderates the heat, so the eggs set gently. Eggs baked too hot curdle and turn grainy or watery, so bake only until firm in the center.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, ham, bread, egg, sauce, peas):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, ham, bread, egg, sauce, peas. 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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