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Timbales, Milanaise
Plunge quarter pound macaroni in two quarts boiling water with two teaspoons salt and boil forty minutes. Drain on sieve. Lightly butter six individual pudding moulds. Place a thin slice truffle at bottom of each mould, then cut macaroni in long pieces the height of the moulds. Arrange macaroni against sides of moulds, standing up. Finely chop six ounces raw lean veal, place in a mortar with two egg yolks, two ounces bread panade, half teaspoon salt, saltspoon cayenne pepper, half saltspoon grated nutmeg and a saltspoon ground mixed allspice, then thoroughly pound; press through a wire sieve into a bowl, add one truffle cut in small squares, teaspoon rum, tablespoon sherry, mix well, then pour in half gill cream, little by little, sharply mixing meanwhile. Add then an ounce cooked ham and one ounce cooked tongue, cut in small squares. Mix well, then fill with it the inside of the timbales, place on a tin, cover with a lightly buttered paper, pour hot water up to half their height, set in oven fifteen minutes. Remove, pour a gill hot tomato sauce on a hot dish, unmould the timbales over and serve.
A veal forcemeat baked in macaroni-lined moulds — a showpiece of the classic repertoire that translates well to a modern kitchen once the pasta timing and the vague measures are sorted out.
- Boil the macaroni far lessForty minutes reflects the dense, unenriched dried macaroni of the period. Modern macaroni needs 8 to 10 minutes, and for this dish you want it just short of al dente so it stays flexible enough to line the moulds without cracking.
- Use long macaroni, not elbowsThe recipe assumes straight tubes cut to the height of the mould and stood upright against the sides. Look for bucatini or long ziti; elbow macaroni cannot be made to do this.
- Archaic measuresA gill is half a cup, so "half gill cream" is 1/4 cup and the finishing tomato sauce is 1/2 cup. A saltspoon is a scant 1/4 teaspoon, so the cayenne and the mixed allspice come to about 1/4 teaspoon each; the nutmeg, given as half a saltspoon, is about 1/8 teaspoon.
- Bread panadeTwo ounces of panade means bread crumb cooked to a stiff paste with milk or stock and cooled. It binds the forcemeat and keeps it tender; without it the veal sets dense and rubbery.
- Mortar and sieveThe pounding and sieving exist to produce a smooth, homogeneous farce. A food processor does the same work in a minute or two — keep everything cold, pulse the veal with the yolks and panade, then trickle in the cream with the motor running. Sieving afterwards is optional if the machine has done its job.
- Oven temperature and donenessThe book gives none. A water bath at 350F is right; fifteen minutes is optimistic for six filled moulds, so allow 25 to 35 minutes and check that the centre of the forcemeat reads 160F. The buttered paper keeps the tops from drying.
- TruffleFresh or good tinned black truffle is the intent. Truffle-flavoured oil or paste is not a substitute for the sliced disc at the bottom of the mould — a slice of cooked mushroom cap or a thin round of blanched carrot gives the visual effect if truffle is out of reach.
- YieldSix individual timbales, which is a first course for six or a light main for three with a salad.
"Timbale" derives from the French word for a drum, applied to the drum-shaped mould, and by the late nineteenth century it named any forcemeat baked in a lined mould and turned out. The "Milanaise" tag in French kitchen usage points to macaroni, along with the ham and tongue that usually accompany it — a garnish name repeated across the era's sauces, croquettes and risottos rather than a claim of Milanese origin.