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Salmon Timbales

Salmon timbales are baked custard-like cakes made with shredded salmon, bread crumbs, cream, butter, eggs, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Salmon Timbales

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the salmon

  1. Remove oil and bones from the salmon and shred it finely.

Make the base

  1. In a double boiler, cook the bread crumbs and cream for 15 minutes.

  2. Add the butter and stir well, then mix in the salmon, egg yolks, salt, nutmeg, and pepper.

Bake and serve

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff and gently fold them into the mixture.

  2. Pour the mixture into buttered timbale molds placed in a pan of hot water.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes, covering with buttered paper while baking.

  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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  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

Salmon
Provides the main body and flavor of the timbales.
Eggs
Egg whites whipped to stiffness lighten the mixture, and yolks help it set.
White bread crumbs
Absorb the cream to form a thick base that gives the timbales body.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the custard-like texture tender.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture to the mixture.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Whites beaten until stiff trap air that leavens the mixture. Overmixing or stirring vigorously deflates the foam, leaving dense timbales instead of light ones.

Swap the nutmeg

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

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

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