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Stuffed Eggplant

A baked dish of eggplants filled with pork, shallots, mushrooms, seasoned with salt, pepper, parsley, topped with breadcrumbs and cheese.

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 Eggplant

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the eggplant

  1. Cut off the stem of the eggplants and slit them lengthwise in halves, tracing the incisions inside.

  2. Fry the eggplants until soft.

  3. Drain the fried eggplants.

  4. Scoop out most of the fleshy part of the eggplant.

Make the filling

  1. In a pan, melt the butter.

  2. Add the chopped pork, shallots, and mushrooms.

  3. Stir and cook for 10 minutes.

  4. Mix the scooped flesh with the cooked mixture.

  5. Season with salt, pepper, and chopped parsley.

Stuff and bake

  1. Stuff the eggplants with the mixture.

  2. Place the stuffed eggplants in a baking dish.

  3. Sprinkle with fresh bread crumbs and grated cheese.

  4. Drizzle with sweet oil.

  5. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until light brown.

  6. Serve on a dish with a ladleful of brown sauce around it.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Eggplant + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together328 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

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

  5. Eggplant + shallottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggplants
Form the edible shell that holds the filling and softens during frying and baking.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the filling and helps carry flavour through the cooked mixture.
Pork
Provides savoury meat flavour and body to the filling as it cooks.
Mushrooms
Release moisture as they cook, adding earthy flavour and a softer, juicy texture to the filling.
Fresh bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping that browns in the oven.
Grated cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding savoury flavour and a golden crust.

The step that matters

Frying the eggplants until soft. Eggplant flesh is spongy and absorbs a lot of oil. Frying until just soft cooks it through so it scoops cleanly and bakes tender, while the skin keeps the halves intact for stuffing.

Swap the eggplant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pork, shallot, mushroom, pepper, parsley, bread. 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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