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Timbale of Chicken

A baked chicken mixture shaped in small tin molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Timbale of Chicken

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. Chop the chicken finely, then pound it in a mortar.

  2. Gradually add the cold cream while continuing to pound.

  3. Mix in the salt, white pepper, and egg whites until you have a smooth paste.

  4. Press the mixture through a sieve into a bowl.

Bake and serve

  1. Butter ten small tin moulds and fill them with the chicken mixture.

  2. Place the moulds in a saucepan with 1 inch of water.

  3. Cover the saucepan and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 10 minutes, or until firm enough to turn out.

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

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

  2. Meat + chickentop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,449 recipes

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

  3. Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  4. Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

White meat of chicken
Provides the main protein that sets into a firm, sliceable body when heated.
Cold cream
Adds moisture and richness, and keeps the mixture soft and smooth when cold.
Egg whites
Set when heated, giving the timbale its structure and firmness.

The step that matters

Keep the cream very cold and the paste smooth. Warm cream or overworking can break the emulsion and make the mixture grainy or curdled. Cold ingredients and gradual addition keep the fat and protein evenly blended, so the timbales set smooth and tender rather than rubbery or separated.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, chicken, cream, egg, butter):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, chicken, cream, egg, butter. 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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