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Stuffed Egg Plant

A baked dish of eggplant stuffed with a mixture of boiled pulp, mushrooms, onions, eggs, and cream dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,176 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Stuffed 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 filling

  1. Scoop out the eggplant and soak the pulp in salt water for 1.5 hours.

  2. Drain and boil the pulp until tender.

  3. Mix the boiled pulp with chopped eggs, onion, seasoning, mushrooms, and sweetbreads if using.

  4. Combine the mixture with cream dressing until smooth.

Bake and serve

  1. Refill the eggplant shell with the mixture and sprinkle with bread crumbs.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until heated through and the top is browned.

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. Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  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. Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Mushroom + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggplant
Its scooped-out pulp forms the body of the filling, and the shell holds it for baking.
Hard-boiled eggs
Chopped eggs add body and richness to the filling as it sets.
Cream dressing
Adds moisture and richness, helping the filling turn smooth and creamy.
Mushrooms
Add savory, earthy flavor and moisture to the filling.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned topping on the baked filling.

The step that matters

Bake until heated through and browned. The filling is already cooked, so the goal is to heat it fully and brown the top without drying it out. Watching the color and heat, rather than only the clock, helps avoid a dry or underheated center.

Swap the eggplant

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Eggplantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, onion, cream, egg, bread, pepper, sherry. 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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