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Chicken and Ham Timbales

A baked dish of chopped chicken and ham mixed with breadcrumbs and eggs, shaped in molds and served with cream sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 and Ham Timbales

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the chicken and ham finely.

  2. In a bowl, combine the chicken, ham, breadcrumbs, eggs, salt, and pepper.

  3. Butter the timbale molds and fill them to within ½ inch of the top.

Cook and serve

  1. Place the molds on folded paper in a pan of hot water.

  2. Cook until the centers are firm.

  3. Serve with cream sauce and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

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. Butter + creamtop 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. Chicken + hamtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,497 recipes

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

  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

Eggs
Bind the mixture and set into a firm, sliceable custard as they cook.
Stale breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and give the timbales body and a tender texture.
Cooked chicken
Provides the main protein and structure of the timbales.
Cooked ham
Adds savory flavor and firmness to the mixture.

The step that matters

Cook until the centers are firm. Egg proteins set as they heat, so underheating leaves the centers loose and wet, while overcooking can make the eggs rubbery and dry. Check that the centers are set before removing the molds.

Swap the parsley

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

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

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