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Stuffed Eggplant

A baked eggplant stuffed with butter, egg, peppers, and bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Stuffed Eggplant

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 eggplant

  1. Boil the eggplant until tender, about 1 hour for a small one.

  2. Split the eggplant in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides.

Make the filling

  1. Chop the insides finely and mix with plenty of butter, the beaten egg, chopped peppers, and enough bread crumbs to hold the mixture together.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill the empty eggplant shells with the mixture, sprinkle with bread crumbs, and dot with butter.

  2. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until browned.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggplant
Forms the edible shell and the soft, moist body of the filling.
Egg
Binds the chopped filling together so it holds its shape when baked.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help the filling hold together while adding light texture.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the top brown in the oven.
Green peppers
Add fresh, slightly bitter flavor and some moisture to the filling.

The step that matters

Enough bread crumbs in the filling. Too few crumbs leave the mixture wet and loose, so it runs out of the shells when baked. The crumbs absorb liquid from the eggplant and egg, helping the filling set so it holds its shape.

Swap the eggplant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, egg, butter, 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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