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Egg Timbales

Egg Timbales are baked egg cups with cheese, pepper, and salt, served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,426 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Egg Timbales

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the mixture

  1. Beat the eggs until very light.

  2. Add the milk, baking soda, pepper, and salt to the eggs. Stir in the grated cheese.

  3. Pour the mixture into small buttered patty pans.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the patty pans in a pan of boiling water.

  2. Bake until the egg is firm.

  3. Turn out onto a flat dish, garnish with parsley, and pour drawn butter around them.

  4. Serve very hot.

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. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

  2. Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,861 recipes

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

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Egg + cheesetop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,253 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten eggs set when heated, giving the timbales their firm, sliceable structure.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the set egg custard tender rather than rubbery.
Grated cheese
Adds savoury flavour and fat, and helps give the set custard a richer texture.
Baking soda
Raises the mixture slightly, lightening the texture of the set egg.

The step that matters

Bake until the egg is firm. Egg proteins set with heat, so underbaking leaves the timbales runny while overbaking makes them tough and rubbery. Baking in a water bath moderates the heat, which helps keep the custard smooth.

“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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