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Chicken Timbales

Chicken timbales are steamed chicken-filled molds served with béchamel sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream 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 ↓

Chicken Timbales

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the macaroni in salted water until tender, then cut it into rings about ½ inch thick.

  2. Line several well-greased timbale molds with the macaroni rings, arranging them evenly.

  3. Prepare the chicken purée as directed for "Chicken Soufflé."

Steam and serve

  1. Fill the prepared molds with the chicken mixture.

  2. Steam the timbales for 25 to 35 minutes.

  3. Arrange the timbales on a hot dish, pour the béchamel sauce around, 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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  5. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Raw chicken
Forms the main body of the timbale once puréed and steamed.
Egg whites
Whipped or beaten into the purée to give the timbale a light, set structure.
Egg yolk
Enriches the purée and helps it set into a smooth, tender texture.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the chicken mixture.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness to the chicken purée.
Macaroni
Forms the edible outer lining of the molds, giving shape and a firm bite.

The step that matters

Fill the prepared molds with the chicken mixture.. Egg proteins set when heated, so the mixture must be gentle and smooth. Air pockets or overfilling can leave holes or cause the timbales to crack or spill out during steaming.

“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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