Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Stuffed Egg Plants
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the eggplant
Halve and parboil the eggplants until soft enough for a fork to enter. Remove from water and let cool.
Carefully cut out the inside of the eggplants without breaking the skin.
Make the filling
Squeeze the soaked bread to remove excess water and mix it with the eggplant pulp.
Add the chopped tomato, onion juice, parsley, and eggs. Season with pepper and salt.
Bake and serve
Fill the eggplant skins with the mixture and sprinkle with toasted bread crumbs.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until heated through and the topping is golden.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Eggplant + tomatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together651 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Eggplant + parsleytop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together328 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
-
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the filling so it holds its shape when baked.
- Eggplants
- Provide the soft, moist pulp that forms the body of the dish.
- Bread
- Soaked and squeezed, it adds body and helps the filling hold together.
- Onion
- Adds aroma and savory flavor to the filling.
- Tomato
- Adds moisture and acidity to the filling.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (eggplant, bread, tomato, egg, parsley, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against eggplant, bread, tomato, egg, parsley, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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