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Stuffed Egg Plant

A baked eggplant stuffed with a buttered breadcrumb and onion mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Stuffed Egg Plant

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the eggplant

  1. Cook the eggplant in boiling salted water for 15 minutes.

  2. Cut off one end and remove the pulp with a spoon.

Make the stuffing

  1. In a pan, melt the butter and add the bread crumbs, chopped onion, and chopped pulp.

  2. Cook for 5 minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper, and moisten with stock or water if needed.

  3. Cool slightly, then mix in the beaten egg.

Bake and serve

  1. Refill the eggplant with the stuffing, cover with buttered bread crumbs.

  2. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Eggplant + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,123 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Eggplant + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together870 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggplant
Forms the edible shell and, once its pulp is mixed in, adds moisture and body to the filling.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and butter, giving the stuffing body so it holds its shape when baked.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the crumbs brown on top in the oven.
Beaten egg
Binds the stuffing so it holds together when sliced and served.

The step that matters

Cool slightly before mixing in the beaten egg. If the stuffing is still very hot, the egg can scramble or cook unevenly instead of blending smoothly. Cooling it a little lets the egg set gently into the filling during baking.

Swap the eggplant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, bread, onion, pepper, egg):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Eggplantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, bread, onion, pepper, egg. 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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