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Timbales De Faisan a LA Rothschild

A refined dish of pheasant meat molded into timbales, garnished with truffles, aspic, and Madeira sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Timbales De Faisan a LA Rothschild

eight timbales

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the molds

  1. Mask the inside of eight timbale molds with a thin layer of aspic jelly and let it set.

  2. Decorate the bottom and sides with thinly cut slices of truffle.

  3. Keep the molds on ice until set, then mask the decoration with a layer of reduced supreme sauce mixed with dissolved aspic.

Make the pheasant mixture

  1. Strip the flesh from the breast and wings of the pheasant, pound it smooth, and mix in the cream, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

  2. Rub the mixture through a fine sieve and place it on ice.

Fill and poach

  1. Butter eight smaller timbale molds and partially fill them with the prepared mixture, leaving the center hollow.

  2. Prepare a ragout with diced sweetbread and coarsely chopped truffle trimmings, moisten with a little sauce.

  3. Put a dessert spoonful of the ragout into each mold, fill with the remaining mixture, and poach for 30 minutes.

  4. When half cold, turn out onto a cloth and chill quickly on ice.

Assemble and serve

  1. Place the timbales into the decorated molds and fill the sides with aspic.

  2. Allow to set, then turn out and serve.

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 + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Truffle + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Pheasant
Forms the lean, finely pounded base that gives the timbales their body.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the pounded mixture soft and smooth.
Sweetbread
Adds tender, rich texture to the central ragout.
Truffles
Provide earthy aroma and a dark decorative contrast on the outside.
Aspic jelly
Sets into a clear gel that holds the decoration and gives a glossy finish.
Madeira sauce
Adds depth and a rich, slightly sweet flavor to the ragout.

The step that matters

Rub the mixture through a fine sieve. Sieving breaks down any remaining fibres and lumps so the pounded mixture sets into a smooth, even texture rather than a grainy one.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pheasant, truffle, sauce, cream, pepper, butter):

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Capersfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pheasant, truffle, sauce, cream, pepper, butter. 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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