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Timbale of Chicken

A steamed chicken pâté baked in buttered molds, served with sauce supreme or Allemande.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Meat and chicken 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 Chicken

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Chop the chicken finely and pound it in a mortar.

  2. Gradually add the cold cream while pounding.

  3. Mix in the salt, white pepper, and egg whites until smooth.

  4. Press the mixture through a sieve into ten buttered molds.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the molds in a saucepan with 1 inch of water.

  2. Cover the saucepan and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 10 minutes or until firm.

  3. Serve with sauce supreme or sauce Allemande.

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. Meat + chickentop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,449 recipes

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

  2. White pepper + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,312 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  3. Meat + eggtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,432 recipes

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

  4. Chicken + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,241 recipes

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

  5. Meat + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,248 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

White meat of chicken
Provides the protein structure that sets into a firm, sliceable custard when heated.
Very cold cream
Adds moisture and richness, and keeps the mixture cool so it stays smooth while pounded.
Egg whites
Set when heated and bind the mixture, giving the timbale its firm texture.

The step that matters

Keep the cream very cold while pounding. Warm cream or overworked meat can cause the mixture to split or turn grainy. Cold fat stays emulsified, so the batter bakes into a smooth, even custard.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, chicken, cream, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, chicken, cream, 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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