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Chicken Timbales

A baked chicken mixture shaped in molds, served with cream sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 ↓

Chicken 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. Chop the chicken breast very finely and pound it to a paste with a potato masher.

  2. Gradually add the cream while mixing thoroughly.

  3. Press the mixture through a vegetable press or colander.

  4. Stir in the unbeaten egg whites one at a time, mixing well.

  5. Add the salt, pepper, and parsley, then fold in the beaten egg whites.

Bake

  1. Grease timbale molds and fill them about two-thirds full with the mixture.

  2. Place the molds in a pan of boiling water, ensuring the water level is even with the chicken mixture.

  3. Cover with paper and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 20 to 30 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve with cream sauce, with or without mushrooms.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

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

  4. Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  5. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken breast
Forms the main body of the timbale once puréed and set by gentle heat.
Cream
Adds moisture and a silky texture that keeps the mousse tender.
Egg whites
Set on heating to bind the mixture, and beaten whites add lightness and rise.

The step that matters

Bake in a water bath. Gentle, even heat from the boiling water keeps the delicate mixture from overcooking, which would make it grainy, dry, or cracked.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, cream, egg, pepper, butter):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, cream, egg, pepper, butter. 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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