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Salmon Timbales

Salmon Timbales are baked salmon cakes served with Hollandaise sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Salmon Timbales

serves 6

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 the mixture

  1. Flake the cold salmon into small pieces.

  2. In a bowl, mix the salmon with the softened butter, cream, and egg yolk gradually, using a fork. Season with salt, cayenne, lemon juice, and a pinch of mace.

  3. Gently fold in the stiffly beaten egg white.

Bake and serve

  1. Prepare 6 well-buttered timbale or dariole molds and fill them with the salmon mixture.

  2. Place the molds in a sauté pan and surround them with boiling water to half their depth.

  3. Cook on the stove or in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 30 minutes, or until set.

  4. Unmold the timbales, coat with Hollandaise sauce, garnish with parsley, 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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Salmon + creamtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Forms the body of the timbale and gives it its main flavour and texture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set on heating to give the timbales their firm shape.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and add body so the mixture holds together when set.
Butter
Adds richness and a soft, moist texture to the mixture.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the set timbale tender.

The step that matters

Setting the timbales in the water bath. Egg proteins set gently with steady, moderate heat. Cooking too hard or with the water boiling over the molds can make the timbales rubbery, pockmarked, or cracked. Keep the water at half the mold depth and check for set rather than overcooking.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, butter, egg, cream, lemon, pepper, parsley):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, butter, egg, cream, lemon, pepper, parsley. 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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