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 ↓
Egg Plant
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the eggplant into thin slices.
Soak the slices in cold salted water for about 2 hours.
Just before serving, dry the slices with towels.
Fry and serve
Dip each slice in egg, then dredge with rolled crackers.
Fry in lard until golden brown.
Serve immediately for best crispiness.
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 once cooked, while the coating provides the crisp exterior.
- Egg
- Binds the rolled crackers to the eggplant slices so the coating holds during frying.
- Rolled crackers
- Forms a crumb coating that browns and becomes crisp in the hot fat.
- Lard
- Conducts heat for frying and promotes browning and a crisp crust.
The step that matters
Dry the slices thoroughly before coating. Surface water turns to steam in hot fat and pushes the coating off the slices, and it keeps the crust from crisping. Drying just before serving keeps the slices from getting soggy.
“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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