Makdous

Not a dish so much as a larder job. It is put up in autumn, in the weeks when aubergines are cheap, and kept to be eaten through the year: small aubergines are briefly blanched, salted and pressed under a weight to drain, then stuffed with crushed walnut, garlic and red pepper and buried in olive oil in a jar.

Why olive oil

The oil both preserves and seasons. The aubergine keeps for as long as it stays under the surface, which is why oil is topped up every time one is taken out. An aubergine that has risen above the oil is where spoiling starts.

Where to eat it

At the breakfast table, beside the olives and the cheese. It rarely appears as a plate of its own in a restaurant; you find it inside the mezze or in a corner of the breakfast spread. The gap between homemade and shop-bought is wide here — it is sold by the jar in the markets.

How to eat it

Whole, with bread. Cutting it with a knife spills the filling; the point is to bite into it and take the walnut with it. The heat varies with how much pepper went in, and no two jars are the same.