Why it works: Eggplant and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,123 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Egg Plant
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
Peel and slice the eggplants.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and let drain on a tilted plate for 45 minutes.
Fry the slices
Make a light batter with the egg, flour, and a little water.
Dip the eggplant slices into the batter and fry in butter or lard until golden.
Alternatively, boil the peeled eggplants until tender, then drain and mash.
Season the mash with salt, pepper, and butter to taste.
Bake and serve
Place in a shallow baking dish and top with a thick layer of crushed crackers.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
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 + peppertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,123 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Eggplant + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together371 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggplants
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming soft and tender when cooked.
- Egg
- Binds the flour and water into a batter that coats the slices and helps them brown.
- Flour
- Thickens the egg mixture into a light batter that clings to the eggplant while frying.
- Butter or lard
- Conducts heat for frying and adds richness and browning to the outside of the slices.
The step that matters
Drain the eggplant. Salting and draining pulls out excess water. Without this, the slices release moisture during frying, making the batter soggy and the eggplant greasy rather than golden.
Swap the eggplant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, egg, flour, butter):
- Chivefits better
- Shallotfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Eggplantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, egg, flour, 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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