Name: Timballe of Macaroni
Ingredients: short paste for lining the mold; ½ cup flour for preserving form; ½ pint cream; 1 egg white; 12 small mushrooms, chopped; 2 cups well-boiled macaroni, cut into 1-inch pieces; 2-3 finely chopped truffles; ¼ cup finely grated Parmesan

Why it works: Mushroom and truffle are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,900 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Timballe of Macaroni

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

short paste for lining the mold
½ cup flour for preserving form
½ pint cream
1 egg white
12 small mushrooms, chopped
2 cups well-boiled macaroni, cut into 1-inch pieces
2-3 finely chopped truffles
¼ cup finely grated Parmesan

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the mold

Line a plain mold with short paste and fill it with flour to preserve its form.

Make the filling

Turn out the flour and fill the mold with a rich white sauce made with cream.
Add egg white, mushrooms, macaroni, and truffles to the sauce.

Bake and serve

Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.
Sprinkle with grated Parmesan just before serving.

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.

Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,900 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Cream + mushroomtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,500 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + truffletop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,604 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).
Flour + mushroomtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,253 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Short paste: Forms the outer shell that holds the timbale's shape while it bakes.
Cream: Enriches the white sauce, giving the filling a smooth, rich texture.
Egg white: Helps the filling set and hold together as it bakes.
Macaroni: Provides the bulk and body of the filling.
Mushrooms: Add moisture and earthy flavour to the filling.
Parmesan: Adds savoury flavour and browning on the surface.

The step that matters

Bake until done. The egg white must set the filling without drying it out. Too high a heat or too long a bake can make the custard-like filling tough, while underbaking leaves it loose and unable to hold its shape when turned out.

“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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Timballe of Macaroni