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Stuffed Egg Plant

Stuffed eggplant with sautéed onion, bread crumbs, egg yolks, and tomato sauce, topped with cracker crumbs and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Eggplant and tomato work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 651 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Stuffed Egg Plant

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise and scoop out the pulp, leaving a ½ inch thick shell.

  2. Chop the pulp and onion, then sauté in 2 tablespoons of butter for about 10 minutes without burning.

  3. Add an equal amount of fine bread crumbs, salt, and pepper to taste.

  4. Incorporate the yolk(s) of the egg and enough strained tomato pulp or sauce to moisten the mixture.

Stuff and bake

  1. Fill the eggplant shells with the mixture.

  2. Combine ½ cup cracker crumbs with 3 tablespoons melted butter and sprinkle on top.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour.

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggplants
Form the shell that holds the filling and becomes tender when baked.
Fine bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the filling body so it holds its shape.
Egg yolks
Bind the filling so it sets firmly when baked.
Strained tomato pulp or white/brown sauce
Moistens the filling so it does not dry out in the oven.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, browned topping over the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and helps the topping brown.

The step that matters

Sautéing the pulp and onion. Cooking the pulp and onion gently until they lose their moisture concentrates flavor and keeps the filling from becoming watery. Burning them would add bitterness and spoil the taste of the dish.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against eggplant, butter, bread, pepper, egg, tomato. 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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