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Lobster Timbales

Baked lobster mixture served in small timbale molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and anchovy work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 470 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓

Lobster Timbales

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Chop the lobster finely.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the milk and bread crumbs and cook until it forms a paste.

  3. Stir in the cream, anchovy essence, salt, and cayenne pepper.

  4. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into small timbale molds, filling them three‑fourths full.

  2. Place the molds in a pan of hot water and cover with buttered paper.

  3. Bake at 400 °F (200 °C) for 20 minutes.

  4. Serve with lobster 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. Lobster + anchovytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together470 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  2. Lobster + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Bread + anchovytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

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

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Anchovy + eggtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Beaten whites trap air and set on baking, giving the timbales their light, firm structure.
Stale bread crumbs
Soaked and cooked into a paste, they thicken the mixture and add body.
Milk
Moistens the bread crumbs and forms the base of a tender, custard-like texture.
Cream
Adds richness and fat, softening the set texture and keeping the timbales moist.
Lobster
Provides the main flavor and protein that sets within the custard.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Folding gently keeps the whites' trapped air intact; stirring or deflating them makes the timbales dense and less puffed when baked.

“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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