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Beef Timbale

A steamed beef mixture of chopped meat, parsley, tomatoes, bread crumbs, and egg, served with sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Beef Timbale

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

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 mixture

  1. Add seasonings to the chopped meat.

  2. Cook the bread crumbs and tomatoes together for 1 minute, then mix with the meat.

  3. Add the slightly beaten egg and mix thoroughly.

Cook and serve

  1. Fill custard cups with the mixture, cover with greased paper, and steam for 30 minutes, or place in a pan of hot water and cook in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes.

  2. Unmould, garnish with parsley, and serve with Tomato or Parsley Sauce.

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. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  5. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Chopped cooked meat
Forms the bulk and main body of the timbale.
Egg
Binds the mixture and sets it firm when heated.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and give the mixture a softer, lighter body.
Stewed and strained tomatoes
Add moisture and a gently acidic, savoury flavour.

The step that matters

Cooking the egg-set mixture gently. The egg sets as it heats. Too much heat or too long a cook makes the protein tighten and turn dry and rubbery, so steam or bake only until the timbale is firm.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, parsley, tomato, pepper, bread, celery, egg):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, parsley, tomato, pepper, bread, celery, egg. 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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