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Potato Timbale a LA Parmentier

A layered potato timbale with onions, tomatoes, béchamel, and egg yolks, baked and served with tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Potato Timbale a LA Parmentier

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Mix the mashed potatoes with half the cream and heat.

  2. Season to taste and add one yolk of egg.

  3. Butter a charlotte or timbale mold and sprinkle the buttered part with brown bread crumbs.

  4. Line with the potato puree.

  5. Peel and blanch the onions, then slice them. Slice the tomatoes.

  6. Heat the béchamel sauce and bind it with two yolks of eggs.

  7. Wash, peel, and slice the raw potatoes.

Assemble and bake

  1. Fill the lined mold with alternate layers of tomatoes, onions, and potatoes.

  2. Season each layer with salt, pepper, chopped parsley, and grated nutmeg.

  3. Moisten with a little of the prepared sauce.

  4. Cover the mold with potato puree and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about an hour.

Serve

  1. Turn out onto a hot dish, pour hot tomato sauce around the base, 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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  3. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

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

  5. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Forms the smooth lining and cover that hold the layers together as the timbale sets.
Egg yolks
Bind the béchamel and potato purée so they set firm when baked.
Béchamel sauce
Adds moisture and richness so the layered vegetables do not dry out in the oven.
Raw potatoes
Form the body of the timbale and cook through in the oven, becoming tender.
Butter
Adds fat and richness and keeps the mold from sticking, aiding browning.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and moisture that brighten the rich potato and sauce layers.

The step that matters

Covering the mold with potato purée. The purée cover seals the layers; if it is too thin or wet it can crack or let the filling leak, and an underbaked centre stays loose when turned out.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, cream, butter, onion, parsley, egg, sauce):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, cream, butter, onion, parsley, egg, sauce. 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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