Is the timbale ready for His Highness, chef? The fish course has been served.” Behind me stood the butler to King, of England. I turned and put the silver server. with its shining dome into the waiting white gloved hands. The dish under the dome was one of the King's favorites, a timbale de ris de veau à la Régence.
We were in the kitchen of the house on Grosvenot Square, where England's Edward VII conducted a personal life aside and apart from his public life and duties of state. Those were years of royal opulence, when the gourmet king gave famous dinner parties for six or eight close friends, diners intimes. They were diners par excellence as well, because the King's friends, for the most part, were counted among the world's greatest connoisseurs of food and wine. I, a sous-chef at the Ritz in London, was in the kitchen of the Grosvenor House because of the King's devotion to my employer. César Ritz, and to the cuisine of the Ritz Hotels.
When Edward was Prince of Wales, he used to say. “Where Ritz goes, I go.” When the Ritz Motel opened its doors on the place Vendôme, Edward transferred his Paris headquarters at once from the Bristol. In London he entertained regularly at gay parties at the Carlton, which was another Ritz hotel. But being a king had its disadvantages. As such. Edward could no longer give parties in public places whenever and wherever he pleased without risking criticism, so he brought the flavor of the Ritz to the kitchens of the house on Grosvenor Square.
The dishes that King Edward ordered for his parties at Grosvenor House were the finest of the spécialités of French baute cuisine, dishes he had enjoyed at César Ritz's famous hostelries and at the great châteaux where he had so frequently been the guest of France's first families.
The custom of not expecting the regular staff of a household to manage the fine cookery for special functions is typically a French one. Monsieur Malley, who was my superior in charge of the kitchens at the London Ritz. knew that I had served my apprenticeship in a château section of France and. like himself, knew the fine points of catering to the elegant soirées given by the French aristocracy in the neighborhood of Moulins. Those soirées had been for both of us a dress rehearsal for the dinners served to Edward VII at the turn of the century, when Great Britain was at the peak of her power and glory and her king set the standard for a comparable peak in the art of fine living. Chef Malley had every reason to believe that I would know how to handle the special dinner parties at Grosvenor House, for I had worked with him at the Paris Ritz before we both went over to London, he to become chef de cuisine and I the sauce chef under him. So when chef Malley was called upon to cater to the parties at Grosvenor House, he automatically asked for my assistance, and I was prepared to discharge the responsibility.
One thing that I was not prepared for was the fine kitchen that Grosvenor House, in common with many other London mansions, had, It was far superior to any I had ever seen in a private home in France and would have put many a small restaurant kitchen in New York to shame, even today. And, remember, this was fifty or more years ago. There was all the equipment one would want to work with, and everything was in perfect order, immaculate from the tiled floors the warming ovens on the ranges. There were even a fireplace which to grill meats and fish and a rôtisserie arrangement so that meat and poultry could be roasted on a spit.
Not the least of the advantages of the royal kitchen were the rosy-cheeked English kitchemaids, always three or four of them dancing attendance on us, fetching this, fixing that, cleaning up here, offering the help of an extra pair of hands there. My years in London could hardly have been more pleasant, but not the least of the reasons were the kindness, courtesy, and friendliness which these people who served their king offered a Frenchman who had hardly learned to speak their language.
All these memories came tumbling through my mind when I started to write about timbales, because I cannot recall a single royal dinner where a timbale was not on the menu. They were, as I said before, one of the King's favorite dishes. In fact, every elaborate menu of those days included a timbale. Usually it was the first entree, coming to the table after the fish course. If the timbale was filled with fish, it took the place of both fish course and first entree. In the early days of the old Ritz in New York, timbales were always on the menu and were always included in the menu for private dinner parties as well. But with the less leisurely meals served today and with the consequent elimination of many a gourmet's delight for the sake of hurried and less expensive eating, timbales have disappeared, unfortunately, from most caries du jour.
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:
Mushroom Garnish
Select 12 firm, fresh white mushrooms, remove the stems, and peel the dps. With a small, sharp knife, carve the top of each cap into a roselike design, turning the cap in the left hand while working with the knife in the right. Cook the turned mushrooms in ½ cup slightly salted water with 1 tablespoon butter and the juice of ½ lemon for 5 minutes. Let the mushrooms cool in the liquid and reserve it to use in making the sauce.
Cocks' Combs
Select 12 cocks' combs from fresh, young fowl. Scrape away the outside skin, make small incisions in the points, and place the combs, covered with cold water, in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight, changing the water two or three times.
Drain and cover the combs with 2 cups salted cold water mixed with I tablespoon flour and the juice of 1 lemon. Bring to a boil and cook gently for 20 to 30 minutes, or until tender. Drain before using.
Mousseline of Chicken
Remove the skin and sinews from ½ pound of breast of chicken. Cut the breast meat into small pieces, add ¼ teaspoon salt and a little pepper, and pound it in a mortar or run it through the finest blade of the food chopper, gradually adding 1 egg white. Rub the mixture through a fine sieve into a Saucepan, Put the pan on a bed of ice, work the mixture with a wooden spoon until it is chilled, and add gradually about 1 ¼ cups heavy cream, working it in a little at a time.
For garnishing timbales. the mousse is made into small moussetries shaped with a teaspoon. Heap the mixture in the spoon and then press the top with the inside of another spoon to form an olive-shaped mousseline. Dip the second spoon into warm water, slip it under the mousse in the first spoon, and slide the mousseline into a buttered pan. Add a little salted water or chicken stock, bring just to the boiling point, and poach the mousselines over very low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, or until firm. Remove them carefully from the pan with a skimmer or perforated spoon and lay them on a towel to dry. When the mousselines are to be used for garnishing elegant dishes like thmbale de ris de veau Régence, they are usually decorated with pieces of truffle cut in flower shapes. The piece of truffle must be carefully pressed into the top of each mousseline, and great care must be taken in poaching or the decoration will fall off.
For a simple fish mousse to make info mousselines, see July, 1951.
Godiveau (Veal Quenelles or Forcemeat Balls)
Make a panade as follows: Bring to a boil 2/3 cup water, a pinch of salt, and 1 tablespoon butter. Add ¼ cup Hour and stir with a wooden spoon over the fire until the mixture is smooth and does not cling to the side of the pan. Remove from the fire, stir in 1 egg, and set aside.
Grind ¼ pound of lean veal, sinews removed, and 1/3 pound of beef kidney suet, free of membranes, through the finest blade of the food chopper. Add 1 teaspoon salt, a little pepper, and a grating of nutmeg. Add the panade, mix well, and spread on a fiat plate. Cover with wax paper and chill in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours.
Divide the farce into smalt pieces to roll into fingers about the size and shape of tiny sausages. Bake them on a flat baking dish in a slow oven (300° F.) for 10 to 15 minute;, or until they are firm but not crusty or brown.
The timbale fillings are like the fillings for vol-au-vent. Some are combinations that might be served with rice. But the important point to remember is not to put the filling into the timbale crust until ready to serve.
Timbale de ris de Veau à la Régence (Timbale of Sweetbreads Régetice)
Soak 3 pairs of sweetbreads in cold water for several hours. Drain, cover with salted cold water, and bring slowly to a boil. Boil gently for 5 minutes, drain again, and plunge the sweetbreads into fresh cold water. Cool and then cut away the connecting throats and the tough sinews, unless they were trimmed before cooking. Spread the sweetbreads on a platter and weight them down with another platter. Chill in the refrigerator for a few hours, or until they are flat and firm.
To braise sweetbreads, spread in a casserole 1 onion and 1 carrot, both sliced, and 1 tablespoon butter. Cook until the vegetables are a little soft but not brown. Add 1 bay leaf, a few sprigs of parsley, and a little thyme. Lay the sweetbreads on this mirepoix and add ½ cup dry white wine and 1 cup white stock. Bring to a boil and cook in a moderately hot oven (375° F.) for 45 to 60 minutes, basting often. The casserole should be covered during the cooking to keep the sweetbreads à blanc, or light in color.
Make a good sauce supréme by adding to ½ cup chicker. broth the stems and peelings of the 12 mushrooms used for the garnishing, the liquid in which they were cooked, and a little truffle juice. Boil this rapidly until it is reduced to one half its original quantity. Add 1 cup sauce velouté (see May, 1951), combine well, and add 1 cup heavy cream. Correct the seasoning with salt and thicken the sauce with 2 egg yolks mixed with a little cream. Heat the sauce just under the fouling point and strain it through a fine sieve.
In another saucepan put 12 turned and cooked mushrooms, 12 cocks' combs, and 12 to 15 small mousselines of chicken decorated with truffles cut in half-moon shapes. Heat them with ¼ cup dry sherry or Madeira and ½ cup of the sauce.
Place a timbale 3 to 3 ½ inches deep on a serving platter and spread some of the Sauté in the bottom. Arrange the sweetbreads over it with the mushrooms, cocks' combs, and mousrelines of chicken over and around them. Add more sauce and serve immediately.
Timbale of Game and Sweetbreads à la Soyer
Prepare and braise 1 or 2 pairs of sweetbreads as for timbale Régence and slice each in half to make 2 escalopes. Remove the breasts from a broiled pheasant, partridge, or grouse and cut each one in thin slices to make 6 escalopes. Prepare the garnishings of 12 turned cooked mushrooms, 12 cooked cocks' combs, and 12 small mousselines of game.
In a buttered saucepan cook 1 onion, sliced, 2 tablespoons ground ham, ½ cup ground veal, ¼ cup ground game trimmings, and ½ cup veal stock until the stuck has almost evaporated. Add 2 ½ cups veal stock, 1 tablespoon each chopped parsley and celery, ½ bay leaf, apinch of thyme, 4 peppercorns, 1 clove, 1 tablespoon truffle juice, and the stems and peelings of the 12 mushrooms to be used for garnish. Simmer slowly until the liquid is reduced to half its original quantity and the vegetables are tender and strain through a fine sieve. Add 1 cup brown sauce, 1 tablespoon glace de viande, 2 truffles, sliced, and salt to taste.
In another saucepan put half of each of the garnishings and ½ cup of the hot sauce. Place a timbale 3 to 3 ½ inches deep, the edge of which has been garnished with small cut-outs of pastry leaves, on a serving platter and spread some of the sauce on the bottom. Arrange the sweetbreads and the game escalopes over the sauce alternately with the sauced garnishings. Add more sauce if desirable and garnish the top with the remaining turned mushrooms, cocks' combs, mousselines of game, and 12 small rounds of truffle, heated in ¼ cup slurry or Madeira, piling them high in the center.
Timbale de Truffles (Timbale of Truffles)
Line a buttered timbale mold 3 inches deep with tart pastry. Cover the bottom with thin slices of fresh larding pork. Clean 6 fresh truffles, brushing them well to get all the sand out of the creases. Peel and season them with salt, a pinch of mixed herbs, and freshly ground pepper. Lay the truffles on the slices of larding pork and add ¼ cup cognac. a scant ½ cup dry sherry or Madeira, and 4 tablespoons beef extract. Cover with more thin slices of larding pork.
Moisten the edge of the timbale with water and place on it a cover made from the same pastry and rolled to the same thickness. Brush the cover with egg beaten with a little milk. Bake in a hot oven (425° F.) for 50 to 60 minutes. Unmold the timbale onto a heated serving platter and serve very hot.
Timbale de Filets de Sole Grimaldi
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a shallow pan and add 1 teaspoon chopped shallots or onions and 12 mushrooms, peeled and stemmed.
Spread 6 filets of sole with fish mousse (see July, 1951), roll them up. and fasten the rolls with toothpicks. Put the rolls, or paupieties, in the pan and add ½ cup dry white wine or 1 cup water or fish stock acidulated with ½ teaspoon lemon juice. If the bones of the fish are on hand, lay them on top and remove them when the fish is cooked.
Cut a round of paper, wax or buttered, the size of the pan and make a small hole in the center. Place this over the fish and cover rhe pan. Bring the liquid to a simmer and poach the fish for 10 to 12 minutes, or until it is done. Discard the bones and transfer the paupiettes and the mushrooms to a plate to keep warm.
Cook the liquid in the pan until it is reduced to one half its original quantity and add 1 cup cream sauce or velouté, ¼ cup heavy cream, and 1 tablespoon butter. Correct the seasoning with salt and! a little freshly ground white pepper and strain.
Meanwhile, took in salted water enough spaghetti, broken into 2-inch pieces, to make 2 cups. Drain well and sauté the spaghetti in a little butter.
Place a timbale about 3 to 3 ½ inches deep on a serving platter and spread some sauce over the bottom, Arrange the spaghetti on the sauce and the fish paupietts and mushrooms on the spaghetti. Pour the remaining sauce over the fish and arrange slices of truffle on each paupiette. Serve very hot.
Timbale de Gnocchi Bourbonaise (Timbale of Gnocchi with Mushrooms)
Bring to a boil 2 cups milk with 2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon salt, and a pinch of nutmeg. Add gradually 1 cup flour, mixing thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and add 4 eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add 2 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese.
Bring a kettle of water to a boil. Put the dough in a pastry bag with a tube with a ¼- to 3/8-inch opening and forte the dough through, cutting it into ½-inch pieces to drop into the boiling water. Boil the gnocchi slowly for 5 to 8 minutes, or until firm. Remove with a skimmer and dry on a towel.
Remove the stems and peel and slice 12 to 15 mushrooms. Put them in a pan with 1 tablespoon butter, a little salt. and a few drops of lemon juice. Cook until the juice from the mushrooms cooks away. Also, prepare about 2 cups light Mornay sauce (see April, 1951).
In assembling the dish, either an ovenproof porcelain or earthenware timbale mold or a timbale made of pastry may be used. However, since this dish has to be cooked further in the oven, it is necessary to wrap the outside of the timbale crust with a double thickness of wax paper to prevent over browning. Put some sauce in the bottom of a timbale and spread over it a layer of gnocchi, then a layer of cooked mushrooms, more sauce, gnocchi, and the remaining mushrooms. Cover generously with sauce, because the gnocchi puff up during cooking. Sprinkle with grated dry Swiss or Parmesan cheese and a little melted butter and bake in a modcrawly hot oven (375° to 400° F.) for 20 to 25 minutes, or until well browned. Serve immediately because the puffed-up gnocchi will collapse if allowed to stand.
Timbale of Spaghetti or Macaroni Milanaise
Boil 1 pound of spaghetti or macaroni in salted water until well done but not too soft, or the dente. Drain. Meanwhile, bring 2 cups tomato sauce to a boil and add ½ cup each cooked ham and cooked ox tongue, 8 cooked mushrooms, and 2 truffles, all cut in julienne. Mix the cooked spaghetti with the sauce and add ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese. If a pastry timbale is used, it should be 6 to 7 inches high. Spread a layer of this mixture on the bottom.
Cook 2 or 3 lamb's or calf's brains in court-bouillon, drain, and sauté them in butter. Braise 3 sweetbreads as for timbale à la Régence and slice the brains and the sweetbreads. Fill the timbale and top with the remaining spaghetti mixture. Serve very hot.
In place of a pastry timbale, use a well-greased ring mold, packing in the cooked spaghetti or macaroni, mixed with just enough of the sauce to hold it together. Bake in a rather moderate oven (300° to 350° F.) for about 15 or 20 minutes. Let the mold set for 5 minutes after removing it from the oven and then unmold on a serving dish. Fill the center with a layer of the sauced spaghetti or macaroni, the brains or sweetbreads, and the remaining spaghetti.