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Eggplant

A baked dish of boiled eggplant mixed with beaten eggs, crackers, onion, celery, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Eggplant

Why it works: Onion and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,518 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Eggplant

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. Boil the eggplant in salted water until tender.

Mix and bake

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs and add the rolled crackers, chopped onion, chopped celery, and butter.

  2. Mix well and pour into a well-buttered mold.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Eggplant + celerytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together64 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 + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture and set into a firm, sliceable custard when baked.
Eggplant
Provides the bulk and soft, tender body of the dish.
Crackers
Absorb the beaten egg and help hold the bake together in a loose structure.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and greases the mold so the bake releases cleanly.

The step that matters

Bake until set. Egg proteins coagulate as they heat, so underbaking leaves the mixture loose and wet in the center, while overbaking makes it dry and rubbery. Check for a firm center rather than relying only on the clock.

Swap the eggplant

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

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

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