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Pea Timbales

A baked pea dish molded into small cups with eggs, sauce, butter, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Pea Timbales

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. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Press the peas through a sieve into a bowl.

Make the timbale mixture

  1. Add the beaten eggs, onion juice, white sauce, melted butter, salt, and cayenne pepper.

  2. Beat the mixture well until combined.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into small molds.

  2. Place the molds in a pan of water and bake until set.

  3. Serve as a vegetable course at dinner.

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. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  2. Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,460 recipes

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

  3. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

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

Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Peas
Provide the main body and vegetable flavour of the timbale.
Eggs
Set the mixture into a firm, sliceable custard as they cook.
White sauce
Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture to the custard.
Melted butter
Adds fat for a silky texture and rich flavour.

The step that matters

Bake in a water bath until just set. Eggs set through gently. Baking the molds in water moderates the heat, so the custard stays smooth and tender rather than curdling, puffing or turning rubbery.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Sesamefits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Black-eyed peafits about as well
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, onion, sauce, butter, pepper. 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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