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Timbale De Macaroni

A baked macaroni and ham timbale served with béchamel sauce or stewed mushrooms.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Timbale De Macaroni

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the macaroni in salted boiling water for about 25 minutes until tender.

  2. Drain and cut the macaroni into 1-inch pieces.

  3. Mix the bread crumbs and ham well.

  4. Add the stock, Worcestershire sauce, and mushroom catsup.

  5. Mix and add the beaten egg.

Assemble the mold

  1. Grease a plain mold with a cover.

  2. Line the mold with the macaroni.

  3. Fill the mold with the mixture, pressing closely.

  4. Put on the lid and fasten it firmly.

Cook and serve

  1. Stand the mold in a kettle of boiling water deep enough to cover it.

  2. Cover the kettle.

  3. Boil for 1 hour.

  4. When done, turn it out from the mold.

  5. Serve with béchamel sauce or stewed mushrooms.

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. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  2. Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Ham + mushroomtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,486 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the outer lining and gives the timbale a firm, chewy bite once cooked.
Ham
Supplies the main savory flavor and body of the filling.
Egg
Binds the filling so it holds its shape when turned out of the mold.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture from the stock and help the filling hold together.

The step that matters

Pressing the filling into the lined mold. Packing the mixture closely removes air gaps, so the timbale sets dense and holds its shape when turned out rather than crumbling.

“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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