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Scalloped Egg Plant

A baked dish of boiled eggplant mixed with bread crumbs, sweet cream, salt, and beaten egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Egg and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Scalloped Egg Plant

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the eggplant

  1. Pare the egg plant. If large, divide into quarters; if small, in halves. Cook in boiling water until easily pierced with a straw. Drain in a colander.

  2. Transfer to a hot dish and beat with a fork until finely broken.

Mix and bake

  1. Measure the egg plant and add an equal quantity of grated bread crumbs, a little salt, and the thick sweet cream.

  2. Add the beaten egg. Place in an earthen pudding dish.

  3. Brown in the oven at 350°F (175°C) until the egg is set and the mixture is heated throughout but not dry.

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.

  1. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  2. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Bread + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,789 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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

What each ingredient does

Eggplant (in the method)
Forms the bulk of the dish and, once mashed, gives it a soft, tender texture.
Grated bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the mixture body so it holds together rather than turning watery.
Egg
Sets when baked, binding the mixture into a firm, sliceable custard-like dish.
Thick sweet cream
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the mixture soft and tender as it bakes.

The step that matters

Baking until just set. Eggs set as they heat; if the dish is baked too long the proteins tighten and squeeze out moisture, leaving the mixture dry and grainy. Pull it once the egg is set and the center is hot.

“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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