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Timbale of Macaroni, a LA Mazarin

A baked dish of macaroni layered with butter, peppercorns, salt, chicken quenelle, and blanquette of fowl.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,449 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Timbale of Macaroni, a LA Mazarin

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the macaroni

  1. Boil macaroni in water with butter, peppercorns, and salt until done.

  2. Drain half of the macaroni on a napkin and let it cool.

  3. Cut the macaroni into half-inch lengths.

  4. Butter the inside of a round or square mold.

Build the timbale

  1. Cover the bottom of the mold with macaroni, standing them on end.

  2. Add a thick layer of chicken quenelle force-meat over the macaroni.

  3. Line the sides of the mold with more macaroni, smoothing the inside with a spoon dipped in hot water.

  4. Fill the cavity with a thick blanquette of fowl.

  5. Cover the top with another layer of force-meat.

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. Chicken + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,449 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Butter + chickentop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

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

  4. Butter + meattop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Meat + saucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,167 recipes

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

Macaroni
Forms the edible shell and structure that holds the timbale's shape.
Chicken quenelle force-meat
Adds a soft, delicate layer that binds and fills the gaps around the macaroni.
Blanquette of fowl
Provides a thick, moist filling that keeps the timbale from drying out.

The step that matters

Smoothing the macaroni lining with a hot-water spoon. Hot water softens the surface starch and warms the spoon so the macaroni and force-meat press together smoothly, leaving no gaps or air pockets that could let the filling collapse or separate when unmolded.

“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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