Name: Timbale D'epina Rd, Puree De Jambon
Ingredients: quenelle meat of chicken or veal (see Receipt No. 174); ½ cup whipped cream; butter (for greasing); puree of ham (see below); half-glaze (for serving); mustard (to taste); a pinch of cayenne

Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Timbale D'epina Rd, Puree De Jambon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare quenelle meat of chicken or veal as per Receipt No. 174.
Mix the quenelle meat with a nice amount of pureed spinach.
Add ½ cup of whipped cream and mix well.
Grease dariole molds with butter.
Dip your finger in cold water and press a hole in the center of each dariole.
Fill the hole with the puree of ham.
Cover with a layer of the quenelle mixture.
Poach the dariole molds as you would other quenelles.
To make the puree of ham, beat cooked lean ham in a mortar with some half-glaze.
Rub the mixture through a fine sieve and adjust thickness with more glaze if necessary.
Flavor the puree with mustard and a pinch of cayenne.
Serve the timbales with half-glaze flavored with ham.

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.

Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Meat + hamtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,095 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Meat + mustardtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together855 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ham + mustardtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together747 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,475 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).