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Dessert

Timbales De Semoule a LA Portugaise

A steamed custard made from milk, semolina, sugar, eggs, and apricots, served in small molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Apricot and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 608 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Timbales De Semoule a LA Portugaise

serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Infuse the vanilla pod in the milk for 30 minutes before boiling.

  2. Bring the milk to a boil, then stir in the semolina and cook for several minutes while stirring.

  3. Remove from heat and mix in the sugar, egg yolks, and one egg white.

  4. Whip the remaining egg whites until stiff.

  5. Fold the stiff egg whites into the mixture when cool, adding whipped cream and a few drops of maraschino liqueur.

  6. Pour the mixture into six or eight small buttered timbale molds and steam for 30 minutes.

Decorate and serve

  1. Warm the apricot halves, angelica, almonds, and cherries.

  2. Turn out the timbales onto a hot dish, place an apricot half on top of each, and decorate with cherries, angelica, and almonds.

  3. Drizzle with apricot syrup flavored with maraschino 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. Apricot + vanillatop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together608 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  2. Vanilla + almondtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  4. Apricot + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together852 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Angelica + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together135 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Semolina
Thickens the milk into a firm, sliceable custard as it cooks and sets.
Eggs
Set the custard when steamed and add richness and structure to the mixture.
Egg whites
Whipped until stiff and folded in, they lighten the custard and give it a airy texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the semolina thickens and the vanilla flavours.
Caster sugar
Sweetens the custard and adds softness to its texture.
Whipped cream
Adds moisture and richness, making the custard silkier and softer.

The step that matters

Adding the stiff egg whites. Fold the whites gently into a cooled mixture. Hot custard would deflate the foam, and overmixing would knock out the air that makes the texture light.

Swap the angelica

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, semolina, sugar, egg, apricot, vanilla, almond):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Angelicathe original
  4. Clovefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, semolina, sugar, egg, apricot, vanilla, almond. 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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