Name: Stuffed Egg Plant
Ingredients: 1 medium eggplant; 1 cup cooked rice; 1 cup chopped meat (chicken or veal); 1 onion, grated; 1 green pepper, chopped fine; 1 tablespoon lemon juice; Salt and pepper to taste; Butter for topping; Bread crumbs for topping

Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Stuffed Egg Plant

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise and scoop out the inside, leaving a shell about ½ inch thick.
Boil the scooped-out eggplant pieces in salted water until tender, then chop finely.

Fill and bake

Mix the chopped eggplant with rice, meat, onion, green pepper, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
Return the mixture to the eggplant shells.
Place in a baking dish, cover the tops with butter and bread crumbs, and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.

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.

Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + breadtop 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).
Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,433 recipes

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

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, once chopped, adds moisture and a soft, tender body to the filling.
Cooked rice: Adds bulk and body to the filling, helping it hold its shape when spooned into the shells.
Meat: Provides protein and savory richness, giving the filling its main substance.
Onion: Contributes aromatic flavor and moisture to the filling as it bakes.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the rich filling and balances the eggplant.
Bread crumbs: Form a crisp, golden browned topping when baked with butter.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (eggplant, rice, meat, onion, pepper, butter, bread):

Avocadofits better
Coconutfits better
Limefits about as well
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against eggplant, rice, meat, onion, pepper, butter, 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.