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Timbales of Ham in Chicken Aspic

A chilled ham timbale made with mayonnaise, chicken aspic, and garnished with olives, chilies, and sweet pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,580 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Timbales of Ham in Chicken Aspic

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the ham mixture

  1. Pound the boiled ham and mayonnaise together to a smooth paste.

  2. Gradually stir in the chicken aspic until just about to set.

Decorate and fill the moulds

  1. Prepare timbale moulds by decorating with slices of olives and egg mixed with enough liquid jelly to hold it together.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the moulds for an even layer.

  3. Fill the moulds with the liquid ham mixture.

Serve

  1. Serve turned out on a bed of lettuce, garnished with olives, red chilies, sweet pepper, and ham, dressed with French dressing.

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. Olive + lettucetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,580 recipes

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

  2. Chicken + olivetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,888 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).

  3. Lettuce + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Ham + chickentop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,497 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Boiled ham
Provides the main savoury body and flavour of the timbale.
Mayonnaise dressing
Adds fat and moisture, giving the ham paste a smooth, creamy texture.
Chicken aspic
Gelatine-based liquid that sets the mixture into a firm, sliceable timbale.
Gelatine
Sets the aspic so the timbale holds its shape when turned out.
Hard-boiled eggs
Add a firm, mild texture and contrast to the smooth ham layer.

The step that matters

Gradually stir in the chicken aspic until just about to set. Gelatine sets as it cools, so if the aspic is added too cold or too late it can clump or set unevenly. Stirring it in gradually while it is still fluid keeps the mixture smooth and ensures it holds together when turned out.

Swap the lettuce

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, chicken, olive, egg, pepper. 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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