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TIMBALES, SMALL (for all sorts of Entrees)
Butter a dozen dariole-moulds thoroughly, spread some trimmings of puff-paste on the dresser, cut with a cutter a round of paste large enough to fill the mould, have a bit of paste of the same form as the inside of the mould, but not so large; put the round piece over the latter, let it fall all round, and then introduce this into the mould. Press equally everywhere with your finger to keep the paste the same thickness, cut off all the paste that is above the rim, fill the mould with trimmings of paste, and put on a false cover to prevent the border of the paste from taking a bad colour. A dozen is always sufficient, except when the dishes are very large. Bake them of a good colour; when done, empty all the inside, and garnish with whatever you may think proper. For pates au jus (with gravy), fill the inside with godiveau (which see), and bake them with false covers. When done, take off the cover, and open them with a knife to let in a spoonful of Espagnole sauce, then cover them with small covers made of puff-paste that you have been particular to make of the proper size and a good colour, and serve up very hot. It is almost needless to say that the same paste and the same preparation will serve for a dozen different sorts, such as salpicon, soft roe of mackerel, lobster, sweetbread, fat liver and truffles, soft roe of cod, turbot, sole, etc.
This is a method for building a dozen small puff-pastry cases rather than a dish in itself; the filling is left to the cook. The instructions assume a professional pastry bench and a vocabulary of French kitchen terms, most of which need translating.
- The hinge: even thicknessEverything depends on pressing the paste to a uniform thickness against the mould. Thin patches blow out and thick ones stay raw, and because the case is hollowed out afterwards there is no filling to disguise the fault.
- Dariole mouldsSmall straight-sided or slightly tapered metal moulds, roughly 2 inches across and 2 inches deep. Deep individual brioche tins, metal dariole moulds sold for baba, or a standard muffin tin all work; grease thoroughly, as the original insists.
- "The dresser"The worktop or bench, not a piece of furniture. "Trimmings of puff-paste" are the offcuts from other work, which reroll well enough for small cases where a perfectly even rise does not matter.
- The double roundTwo pieces are used: a smaller piece cut to the form of the inside of the mould, with a larger disc laid over it and allowed to fall all round before the whole is introduced into the mould. The smaller piece appears to support the centre so the paste does not thin as it is pushed home.
- Filling with trimmingsThe paste scraps packed inside are blind-baking weight, dug out and discarded once the case is set. Parchment and dried beans or ceramic beads do the job with less waste.
- The "false cover"A sacrificial lid of paste laid over the rim so the edge does not scorch before the sides have cooked through. A disc of foil, or a smaller disc of pastry trimming, serves the same purpose.
- Oven heatNo temperature is given; the original says only to bake them of a good colour. Puff paste needs a hot oven to lift, and modern practice would suggest something in the region of 425F, dropping to about 375F once risen so the interior dries out. 'A good colour' means deep golden brown, not pale.
- The French termsGodiveau is a fine veal and suet forcemeat; salpicon is a mixture of small dice bound in sauce; Espagnole is the brown mother sauce built on veal stock and roux. Soft roe is milt, the male fish's reproductive gland, still sold as shirako or laitance in some markets but rarely elsewhere.
- Yield and timingTwelve cases; the original notes that a dozen is always sufficient except when the dishes are very large. The empty shells can be baked ahead and crisped briefly before filling; once sauce goes in they must be served at once or the pastry softens.
Timbale takes its name from the drum-shaped moulds the cases were baked in -- the word is the same one used for the kettledrum -- and in nineteenth-century French service these small crusts were among the workhorses of the entree course. What is being taught is a container, deliberately neutral, to be filled with whatever the larder offers. The list of suggested fillings is a fair portrait of what a well-supplied Victorian kitchen considered ordinary -- sweetbread, lobster, fat liver and truffles, the soft roes of mackerel and cod -- and the assumption that a cook would have Espagnole sauce and godiveau already to hand suggests the entry was written for a well-staffed kitchen, or at least an ambitious cook working from the same book's other pages.