No. 2988

Timbale Milanese of Macaroni or Noodles

Timbale de macaroni ou de Nouilles, Milanaise

Butter the interior of a timbale mold; decorate the sides with slightly sweetened noodle paste (No. 142); moisten the decorations and line the whole with foundation paste (No. 135). Cut the bottom with a three-inch pastry cutter, but do not remove this round piece. Blanch some macaroni in water, drain and finish cooking in broth (No. 194a), drain once more, then cut it into three-inch lengths; season with a very little salt, pepper, grated parmesan and a liberal piece of butter. Fill the timbale with this macaroni, leaving a hollow in the center to be filled with a garnishing composed of truffles, foies-gras, game quenelles, unsmoked red beef tongue and mushrooms, all cut an eighth of an inch thick and three quarters of an inch long; these ingredients to be mingled with half-glaze (No. 409) made of essence of game (No. 389). Close the timbale with a cover of the same paste and cook in a moderate oven. A timbale containing two quarts will require an hour and a half to cook properly; invert it immediately on a dish, remove the round that was cut, replace it and serve. Instead of macaroni, noodles or lazagnettes may be substituted, proceeding precisely the same. Send at the same time with the timbale beef a-la-mode gravy, with tomato pulp, little meat glaze (No. 402) and brown sauce (No. 414).

← No. 2987 Timbale of Gnocquis, a la Choiseul Macaroni, Rice & Farinaceous No. 2989 Timbale of Noodles a la Pearsall →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is a Delmonico's showpiece: a pastry drum lined and filled with macaroni around a rich game-and-truffle center, baked, then turned out whole. Nearly all the difficulty is structural rather than culinary.

The hinge: undercook the macaroniIt is blanched, finished in broth, then baked a further ninety minutes inside the mold. Take it out of the broth while still distinctly firm at the core, or the turned-out timbale will be a paste.
Foundation paste, not pie crustNo. 135 is a lining paste, made to hold a shape and take a decoration rather than to eat flaky. Any short, tender pastry will slump under two quarts of filling; a firm lining or hot-water paste is the nearest equivalent.
The cut round in the baseThe three-inch disc is cut at the lining stage but left in place; once the timbale is inverted the round is lifted out and set straight back before serving. The recipe does not say why.
"A moderate oven"Roughly 325-350F on a modern dial. At the stated ninety minutes for a two-quart mold, check the pastry after an hour and tent it if it is colouring too fast.
The moldA timbale mold here is a deep, straight- or slightly flared-sided metal form, roughly charlotte-shaped. A two-quart charlotte mold or a deep, seamless cake tin will serve; grease it thoroughly and chill the lined shell before filling.
Foies-gras and unsmoked red tongueFoies-gras means a cooked foie gras terrine, cut in batons. "Unsmoked red beef tongue" is brine-cured tongue, red from the cure rather than from smoke; a plain cured (not smoked) tongue from a deli counter is the match.
Half-glaze and essence of gameDemi-glace, here built on a reduced game stock. Without a game essence to hand, a strongly reduced brown veal or duck stock keeps the garnish bound and glossy, which is its function.
LazagnettesNarrow ribbon lasagne, not the wide sheets. Treated exactly as the macaroni: blanched, finished in broth, buttered and cheesed.
Yield and serviceA two-quart timbale is a substantial course for a table of several. The recipe directs that the beef a-la-mode gravy, with tomato pulp, meat glaze and brown sauce, be sent at the same time as the timbale rather than poured over it.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and the book is essentially the working repertoire of a grand American restaurant kitchen run on French lines. A timbale in this sense is the pastry case itself, the name generally traced to the drum-shaped mold it is baked in, and the milanaise label attaches broadly to macaroni dressed with butter, parmesan and a garnish of tongue, mushrooms and truffle cut in matchsticks. The construction belongs to the age of the elaborate entr he whis that the whole thing arrives at the table sealed, is inverted intact, and gives up its interior only when the cut round is lifted out. Its cross-references to numbered pastes, glazes and essences are a reminder that the recipe was never meant to stand alone; it assumes a brigade with stock, demi-glace and game essence already on the stove.