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Baked Tomato and Eggplant

A layered baked casserole of eggplant, tomatoes, macaroni, cream, cheese, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Eggplant and tomato work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 651 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Baked Tomato and Eggplant

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. Pour the cream into a deep earthenware dish.

Assemble

  1. Cut the eggplant into very thin slices, salt them well, and line the dish with the slices.

  2. Slice the tomatoes and place a layer on top of the eggplant.

  3. Add a layer of macaroni, sprinkle with cheese and butter, and season with pepper.

  4. Cover with another layer of tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and add a top layer of eggplant, also seasoned.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake gently for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

  2. Serve in the same dish.

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. Eggplant + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together651 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cream
Adds moisture and richness, helping the layers stay soft as they bake.
Eggplant
Forms the soft, tender layers that give the casserole its body.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity that flavour the layers as they cook.
Macaroni
Provides starch and bulk, giving the casserole structure when baked.
Cheese
Melts and adds savoury richness and flavour to the layers.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the top layers brown and taste rich.

The step that matters

Baking gently at low heat. A low oven temperature cooks the eggplant and macaroni through slowly, keeping the cream from curdling or drying out and making the layers tender.

Swap the eggplant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, tomato, cheese, butter, pepper):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, tomato, cheese, butter, pepper. 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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