Why it works: Eggplant and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 371 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fried Egg Plant
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the eggplant into thick slices.
Soak the slices in salt water for 30 minutes.
Drain the eggplant well.
Dip each slice in flour, then in beaten eggs.
Fry quickly in hot lard until golden brown.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Eggplant + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together371 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Eggplant + eggtop 30% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together515 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the eggplant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Chivefits better
- Shallotfits better
- Eggplantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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