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Stuffed Aubergines

A dish of aubergines stuffed with a savory mixture of suet, oil, shallots, parsley, mushrooms, spices, meat, anchovy, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Stuffed Aubergines

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the stuffing

  1. Combine grated suet, oil or butter, shallots, parsley, and mushrooms in a stewpan.

  2. Add salt, pepper, and spices.

  3. Cook for 15 minutes.

  4. Let the mixture cool.

  5. Mix in chopped meat, bread crumbs, and chopped anchovy until well combined.

Fill and bake

  1. Fill the halved aubergines with the stuffing.

  2. Sprinkle a thick layer of bread crumbs on top.

  3. Moisten each aubergine with a tablespoon of oil or melted butter.

  4. Cook in an oven at 400°F (200°C) or on a bakepan until hot.

  5. Serve.

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. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

What each ingredient does

Grated suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the stuffing moist and flavorful during cooking.
Chopped meat
Provides the main body and savory substance of the stuffing.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and form a crisp, browned topping over the stuffing.
Anchovy
Contributes salty, savory depth that enriches the overall flavor.

The step that matters

Cool the mixture before stuffing. Adding the meat and anchovy to a hot mixture can cook them unevenly and loosen the binding fat, so letting it cool helps the stuffing hold together and stay tender when filled into the eggplant halves.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, shallot, mushroom, pepper, meat, bread, anchovy):

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Garlicfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, shallot, mushroom, pepper, meat, bread, anchovy. 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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