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Entree for Timbals

A creamy brain dish with mushrooms, oysters, and catsup, served as an entrée.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Entree for Timbals

sufficient for 10

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Parboil the brains in salted water until tender.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, thicken the cream slightly over low heat.

  2. Add the catsup, butter, and sugar to the cream, stirring until combined.

Combine and serve

  1. Cut the parboiled brains into small pieces and add them to the cream mixture.

  2. Chop the mushrooms and add them to the mixture along with the oysters.

  3. Stir gently and heat through without boiling.

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. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

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

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

  5. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Brains
Form the main body of the casserole, giving it a rich, tender meaty texture.
Cream
Provides richness and a smooth, thickened base that binds the other ingredients.
Oysters
Add a briny, savory flavor and a tender bite to the mixture.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavor and a soft, moist texture.
Catsup
Adds sweetness, acidity and tomato flavor to the cream base.

The step that matters

Heat through without boiling. Cream can curdle or separate when it boils, and delicate oysters and brains turn tough and rubbery at high heat. Gentle heat keeps the sauce smooth and the seafood tender.

“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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