The word timbale comes from the Arabic words for drum and has since come to mean a drinking glass and. also, a silver or porcelain bowl for serving fruit or sweets. In our culinary language it has two meanings. A timbale is an ovenproof clay, porcelain, or metal mold, either round or oval, with straight sides. And it is also a hot pâté or pie shell that is baked in one of these molds and filled with succulent mixtures of chicken, sweetbreads, mushrooms, and truffles, in many combinations, all exquisitely sauced. This pâté, however, is not served in the mold in which it is baked, like an American chicken pie or an English beef and kidney pic. The pastry timbale is unmolded and placed on a serving platter until it is ready to go to the table and is filled at the last minute. A real gourmet likes to cat the rust. In some ways the pâté is more delicious than a puff paste vol-au-vent because it has a crispy kind of crustiness that is not apt to soften from the filling as quickly as that of a vol-au-vent.
I think it is too bad that more people do not try their hands at timbales, because a timbales can quite properly be the main dish of a simple dinner or luncheon, and a very good and hearty main dish.
In making the pastry for a timbale, either the trimmings of puff paste that have been rerolled (and consequently are not so light) can be used, or the timbale may be made with the following recipe for tart pastry.
Tart Pastry for Timbales
Mix ½ cup butter. 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, and egg. Cut this mixture into 2 cups sifted flour and add just enough told water, about 4 or 5 tablespoons, to hold the mixture together. Work this dough as little as possible, because too much handling toughens it.
To shape the timbale, roll out a circle about 1/8 to ¼ inch thick and large enough to cover the bottom and sides of the mold. Sprinkle lightly with flour and fold the sheet of dough in half, but do nor crease the fold. With the open edges facing forward, pull the two ends around to the front to form what looks like a skull cap and stretch the dough gently to get a bowl-shaped piece when the halves are opened. Fit this into the well-buttered mold, working it into the edges so that the finished timbale will have the exact mold shape.
If the mold has a decoration on the sides, it will, of course, show on the finished timbale. Let about ½ inch lap over the edge of the mold like a flange and decorate with a pastry wheel or pastry leaves or pinch it neatly. Line the mold with wax paper and fill it with dried beans to weight down the pastry and keep it from pulling Up and out of shape as it bakes. Bake in a hot oven (400° F.) until the shell is golden brown. Discard the beans, remove the wax paper, and carefully unmold the timbale. Let it dry in a warm place until ready to fill and serve.
If a pastry cover is to be added, roll our a piece of the dough and cut it the size of the top of the timbale to fit nicely on the ½-inch flange at the top of the timbale. Decorate the edge of the cover like the flange. Leaves are usually cut from the pastry and arranged in a kind of wreath on this cover. Finally, three small circles of dough, graduated in size, are placed in the center, one on top of the other, for a knob. Bake the cover on a flat pan or cooky sheet.
Timbale molds vary in height from 2 ½ inches to 7 or 8 inches. Any straight-sided mold can be used, a charlotte mold, a deep pie dish, or a porcelain or earthenware casserole. Usually covers are made only for the very high timbales, and when the timbale is covered, the contents of the timbale are not elaborately garnished. When the timbale is not high, the filling is garnished with “turned” mushrooms, truffles, or other decorations, and the mixture is piled up a little higher than the edge of the timbale. The pastry cover is then omitted. A dome-shaped, high silver cover is always placed over the open timbale when it is served.
Because this is an elegant dish the garnishing takes on added importance. Mushrooms, for example, are always tourné, or turned. Turning mushrooms was one of the first things we were taught when we learned our trade. In fact, before we could be trusted with making the crust for a timbale or the fine sauces for the fillings, we had the job of making the garnishes. Here are the must usual ones:
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