Name: Stewed Eggplant
Ingredients: 2 eggplants; ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ¼ teaspoon black pepper; 2 tablespoons butter; 2 tablespoons grated bread

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Stewed Eggplant

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Soak the eggplants in cold water with salt for 10 minutes.
Boil the eggplants until tender, changing the water once.

Mash and serve

Peel and mash the eggplants.
Season with salt, pepper, and butter.
Stir in the grated bread and serve hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Eggplant + peppertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,123 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Eggplant + breadtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together265 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,964 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).