cooking lesson #2: salt the eggplant

Western variety

Asian Variety

Eggplants come in many shapes and sizes, but 2 varieties are most common: Asian and Western.  Asian varieties include round or long and thin ones.  Western varieties may be larger and are shaped like plump pears.  They are all super yummy and can be cooked in many ways.  They can be grilled, baked, steamed, fried or sauteed!  

Tip:
When you cook your eggplant- add salt.  

Here's why:

Eggplants are filled with cells that contain water and are surrounded by tiny air pockets. When heat is applied, the heat squeezes the air out of these tiny pockets.  Oils or any fats are then free to seep into these pockets, and the eggplant becomes soggy and nasty when fried. (side note: If left to cool slightly, some of that oil comes back out- which is why sometimes eggplant parmigiana is swimming in oil!)

...BUT... 

if you sprinkle salt on the eggplant, you draw the water out of the cells first (this is called "degorging").  The cells collapse without water which, in turn, causes the air pockets to collapse.  As a result- no oil can seep into these tiny pockets during the frying process!!

cool, right?

water beading (image from cookthink)

Here's how to do it:
1) slice the eggplant (whatever way you want)
2) generously season the sides with salt
3) leave the the eggplant pieces alone for 20-30 min (depending on the size)

(*at this point you will seed the water beading on the surface!)

4) wipe/wash salt and water off the pieces and prepare according to the recipe


Keep in mind that you will probably need to add less salt to the rest of the recipe because not all of it comes off!


Enjoy!!

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

Here are some fantastic recipes using eggplants!


I like this one for yummy caponata!