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Tomato Timbale

A baked tomato custard served in molds with cream sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Tomato Timbale

Oven, in the book's wordsA rather hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a rather hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the tomato base

  1. Boil the tomatoes with the onion, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves, and peppercorns until reduced to a pulp, then strain the mixture.

  2. Add the baking soda dissolved in water, stirring well.

Make the custard

  1. Beat the eggs with salt and pepper.

  2. Mix the eggs with the heavy cream and the tomato pulp.

Bake and serve

  1. Butter about 8 to 10 timbale molds.

  2. Sprinkle the insides with bread crumbs.

  3. Fill the molds three-quarters full with the mixture.

  4. Place the molds in a shallow pan with about 2 inches of hot water.

  5. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 15 minutes.

  6. Turn the timbales out onto small circular pieces of buttered toast.

  7. Pour over the rich cream sauce mixed with whipped cream.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

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

  5. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Provide the main body, moisture and acidic flavor of the timbale.
Eggs
Set when baked, giving the timbale its firm, sliceable structure.
Heavy cream
Adds fat and richness, producing a smoother, more tender custard.
Baking soda
Reacts with the tomatoes' acidity to release gas, helping the timbales rise and lighten.

The step that matters

Baking in a water bath. The molds sit in hot water so the eggs heat gently and evenly. Direct high heat would overcook the outside and make the custard curdle or turn grainy.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, cinnamon, clove, egg, pepper, cream, butter):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, cinnamon, clove, egg, pepper, cream, 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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