Name: Eggplant Stuffed
Ingredients: 1 eggplant; ½ cup bread crumbs; 1 small onion, chopped; ¼ teaspoon black pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; 1 egg yolk; 1 tablespoon butter

Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

Eggplant Stuffed

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

Boil the eggplant whole in salted water until tender.
Scrape out the inside and mix it with bread crumbs, chopped onion, black pepper, coarse sea salt, egg yolk, and butter.
Stuff the eggplant shell with the mixture.

Bake

Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until heated through.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Eggplant + peppertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,123 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Eggplant + oniontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together870 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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 the soft, moist flesh that holds the filling.
Bread crumbs: Absorb moisture and give the filling body so it holds its shape.
Egg yolk: Binds the filling together and adds richness as it heats.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a smoother texture in the filling.
Onion: Adds savory aroma and flavor to the filling.