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Ham Timbales

Ham timbales are baked ham and egg custard shaped in molds, served with white sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and ham are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Ham Timbales

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Soak the bread crumbs in the thin cream for 30 minutes.

  2. Add the beaten eggs, chopped ham, milk, mustard, and salt to the mixture.

Bake and serve

  1. Turn the mixture into well-buttered timbale molds or one large mold.

  2. Decorate the molds with slices of hard-boiled eggs, cut into fanciful shapes.

  3. Place the molds in a pan of hot water and cook until the centers are firm.

  4. Serve with a white 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 + hamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  2. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Ham + mustardtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together747 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Bread + mustardtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,484 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard into a firm, sliceable structure as they cook.
Thin cream
Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture to the custard.
Milk
Adds moisture and loosens the custard mixture.
Cooked ham
Provides the main savory flavor and meaty body of the timbale.
Bread crumbs
Soak up cream to help give the custard body and a softer texture.

The step that matters

Place the molds in a pan of hot water and cook until the centers are firm.. Egg custards turn grainy or watery if cooked too hot or too fast. A water bath moderates the heat so the proteins set gently and evenly, and the centers should be checked for firmness rather than timed alone.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, cream, egg, ham, milk):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, cream, egg, ham, milk. 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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