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Stewed Eggplant

A stew of eggplant, onions, tomatoes, ham, and garlic, simmered slowly in butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Stewed Eggplant

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the eggplant

  1. Parboil the eggplants for about 30 minutes, then let them cool slightly.

  2. Remove the skin and cut the eggplants into 1-inch square pieces.

Make the stew

  1. In a pan, melt the butter and brown the chopped onions.

  2. Add the tomatoes and chopped ham to the pan as the onions brown.

  3. Stir in the minced garlic and season with salt and pepper.

  4. Let the mixture simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, then add the eggplant.

  5. Cover tightly and cook slowly, stirring often to prevent burning.

  6. Season again to taste and cook for an additional 30 minutes before serving hot.

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. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Eggplant + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together801 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Eggplant + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together651 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggplants
Form the bulk of the stew, softening into tender pieces as they cook.
Onions
Browning builds sweetness and savory depth as the base of the stew.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity that help form the sauce around the eggplant.
Butter
Adds fat and richness and helps the onions brown.
Garlic
Contributes aroma and pungency that mellow during slow cooking.

The step that matters

Cover tightly and cook slowly, stirring often. Low, covered heat lets the eggplant break down gently and release moisture, while frequent stirring prevents the sugars and solids on the bottom of the pan from scorching.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (eggplant, onion, tomato, butter, ham, garlic, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Oreganofits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against eggplant, onion, tomato, butter, ham, garlic, pepper. 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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