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Fat Goose Liver, Bohemian Fashion

A timbale of foie gras mixed with panada, egg yolks, spices, and whipped cream, served with cream paprika sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fat Goose Liver, Bohemian Fashion

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the forcemeat

  1. In a bowl, combine foie gras and panada.

  2. Gradually add egg yolks, seasoning with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

  3. Rub the mixture through a fine sieve and place it in a cool area.

  4. Work the forcemeat until smooth, then gently incorporate whipped cream.

  5. Check the consistency; if too solid, add more cream.

Bake and serve

  1. Butter small timbale molds and fill them with the mixture.

  2. Cook in a bain-marie for 15 minutes.

  3. Unmold and serve with cream paprika 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. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 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. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Nutmeg + creamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Foie gras
Provides the rich fat and flavor that give the timbale its body and smooth texture.
Panada
Adds starch and binding so the forcemeat holds its shape when cooked.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture and help it set gently into a firm, custard-like texture.
Whipped cream
Adds moisture and lightness, keeping the timbale tender rather than dense.

The step that matters

Adding the whipped cream and checking consistency. Cream must be folded in gently so the air in the whipped cream is kept, and the mix should be loose enough to stay tender. If it is too stiff, the timbale will be dense and dry after cooking; adding cream fixes this before the molds are filled.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Capersfits less well

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