Why it works: Eggplant and egg work together. They rank in the top 30% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 515 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓
Fried Egg Plant
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the eggplant
Slice the eggplant and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
Let the salted slices sit for one hour.
Rinse off the salt and pat the eggplant slices dry.
Coat and fry
Dip each slice in beaten egg, then coat with breadcrumbs.
Fry the slices in hot oil 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 + eggtop 30% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together515 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggplant
- Forms the tender, soft interior that contrasts with the crisp coating.
- Egg
- Binds the breadcrumbs to the eggplant so the coating adheres during frying.
- Breadcrumbs
- Form a crisp, golden crust when fried in hot oil.
The step that matters
Pat the eggplant slices dry. Eggplant releases moisture when salted. Any water left on the slices steams the coating and makes it soggy, so the slices should be fully dry before dipping and frying.
“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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