Name: Stuffed Egg Plant
Ingredients: 1 or 2 eggplants; equal bulk of fine bread crumbs; salt to taste; pepper to taste; 1 or 2 egg yolks; strained tomato pulp or sauce (white, brown, or tomato); ½ cup cracker crumbs; 2 tablespoons butter

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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cut the eggplants in half and scoop out the insides.

Stuff and bake

In a bowl, mix the eggplant flesh with bread crumbs, salt, pepper, egg yolks, and enough tomato pulp or sauce to moisten.
Fill the eggplant shells with the mixture.
In a separate bowl, combine cracker crumbs with melted butter and sprinkle over the stuffed eggplants.
Bake 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.

Eggplant + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together651 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Eggplant + peppertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,123 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,013 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

Eggplants: Form the edible shell and bulk of the dish, holding the stuffing while it bakes.
Bread crumbs: Absorb liquid from the pulp and sauce, giving the stuffing body and a soft texture.
Egg yolks: Bind the stuffing so it holds its shape when sliced and served.
Tomato pulp or sauce: Moistens the stuffing and adds acidity and flavor to the filling.
Cracker crumbs: Form a crisp, golden topping through browning in the oven.
Butter: Fat that helps the cracker topping brown and adds richness.

Swap the eggplant

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

Capsicumfits better
Asparagusfits better
Potatofits about as well
Eggplantthe original

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