Let's Cook Eggplant Without Bitterness

2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29

In order to remove the bitterness from the eggplant, we must get acquainted with which parts of it are useful and which should not be present in the finished dish.

Eggplant skin, for example, is perfectly edible. It should be left when a smaller and tender eggplant is prepared for frying or breading. Otherwise, peeling it can lead to peeling of the flesh and deformation of the vegetables.

The inside of the eggplant should be pale, creamy in color and without spots. Removing the dark, bluish or bruised parts of it, as well as the seeds that have begun to turn brown, is recommended, as they have a bitter taste and unpleasant texture.

To salt or not eggplant before cooking?

This is a much discussed culinary topic. Salting eggplant slices or cubes has several consequences. First, salt attracts and sucks the juices from the fruit, which, especially in older aubergines, can contain strong bitterness.

It also has the ability to tighten, thicken and dry, which makes eggplant less likely to absorb excess fat when fried. Salt is also an indisputable tool that gives vegetables such as blue tomatoes more completeness of taste.

However, many chefs note that modern varieties of eggplant, which are not as bitter as in the past, should not be treated with so much salt. Blue tomatoes originating in Japan or China must be cooked without additional salting.

If you decide to salt the eggplant, first cut it into oblong slices or cubes and only then sprinkle it with salt. It is best to be marine.

Then place them to drain the excess liquid in a colander for at least an hour, and preferably for a longer time.

Salted eggplant can stand for hours without compromising its taste or texture. However, before you start cooking it, be sure to rinse it well with salt. Then place the eggplant slices or cubes between two layers of kitchen paper and press lightly to soak up the juices and dry the flesh of the vegetables. This is a particularly important trick when frying eggplant.

If you still do not want to use salting as a method to remove the bitterness, then you can simply cut the eggplant into medium-sized oblong slices and place them in a flat, glass dish.

Then put it in the freezer for about 4 hours. When the slices are thawed at room temperature, press them lightly to release even more of their liquid to remove more of their bitterness. Finally, dry them with kitchen paper.

Thus processed, eggplant can be used, even for frying.

The difference in this method of removing the bitter taste is that after thawing the eggplant slices will be more tender and with a softer flesh than if they were salted.