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Fried Eggplant

Fried eggplant slices coated in egg and breadcrumbs, then fried until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Fried Eggplant

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 ↓

Fried Eggplant

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pare the eggplant and cut it into very thin slices.

  2. Sprinkle each slice with salt and pepper, stack them evenly, and place a weight on top to press out the juice. Let stand for 30 minutes.

  3. Beat the egg and add boiling water.

Bread and fry

  1. Dip each slice first in the egg mixture and then in bread crumbs.

  2. Fry in very hot lard until golden brown on both sides.

  3. Drain on paper and serve.

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.

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.

  1. Eggplant + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,123 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Eggplant + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together265 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Eggplant + eggtop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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 main body of the dish and softens as it fries.
Egg
Binds the bread crumbs to the slices so the coating adheres during frying.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns in the hot fat.
Lard
Conducts heat to the slices, browning the coating and crisping the surface.

The step that matters

Frying in very hot lard. If the lard is not hot enough, the coating absorbs fat and turns greasy before it browns. Very hot fat seals the crumbs quickly, giving a crisp, golden exterior.

Swap the eggplant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, egg, bread):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Eggplantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, egg, 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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