Why it works: Eggplant and egg work together. They rank in the top 30% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 515 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓
Eggplant
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the eggplant
Slice the eggplant into ⅛ inch thick slices and pare them.
Sprinkle coarse sea salt over the slices and let them sit for 1 hour to drain water.
Bread and fry
Beat the egg in a bowl.
Dip the eggplant slices first in the egg, then in cracker crumbs.
Heat the lard in a frying pan until very hot.
Fry the slices until they are a nice brown color.
Serve immediately.
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.
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Eggplant + eggtop 30% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together515 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggplant
- Forms the tender interior that softens and steams while the outside fries.
- Egg
- Binds the cracker crumbs to the slices so the coating adheres during frying.
- Cracker crumbs
- Form a crisp, browned coating that gives the slices their crunch.
- Lard
- Conducts heat into the coating, driving browning and crisping of the surface.
The step that matters
Fry the slices in very hot lard. If the lard is not hot enough, the coating absorbs fat slowly and turns greasy instead of crisp and brown. Very hot fat sears the crumb coating quickly, sealing it so less oil soaks in.
“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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