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Stuffed Eggplant

Stuffed Eggplant is a dish of eggplant halves filled with ham, breadcrumbs, butter, and pepper, baked until tender.

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

Stuffed Eggplant

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 filling

  1. Cut the eggplant in half and scoop out the insides.

  2. Place the insides in a saucepan with minced ham, water, and salt.

  3. Drain the water after cooking.

  4. Mix in breadcrumbs, butter, and pepper.

Stuff and bake

  1. Stuff each half of the eggplant with the mixture.

  2. Add a small lump of butter on top of each half.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until tender.

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Eggplant + buttertop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together507 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

Eggplant
Forms the shell and soft, tender flesh that holds the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the filling and browns the top in the oven.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb liquid and help the filling hold its shape and texture.
Minced ham
Adds savoury, salty flavour to the filling.

The step that matters

Drain the water after cooking. Eggplant releases water as it cooks. Leaving too much liquid in the filling makes it watery and can stop the breadcrumbs from binding it, so drain well before mixing.

Swap the eggplant

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Eggplantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, butter, 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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