Recipe - Eggplant Parmigiana (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to cooking eggplant? ›

Eggplant is about 80 to 90 percent water, so when you put them in the oven they need space to evaporate all that water and caramelize properly," says Covarrubias. Give them a toss halfway through the cooking process to make sure they're cooked evenly, too.

Modern eggplant has had bitterness nearly bred out of it, so many cooks have given up the practice. Salting the slices for eggplant Parmesan is not to prevent bitter flavors, but to season the eggplant itself and, at least in my experience, keep the eggplant from sucking up too much of the olive oil from frying.

The vegetable's skin is completely edible and tends to soften as it cooks, so in many recipes it's fine to leave the skin on. That said, I recommend peeling the eggplant for eggplant parmesan. As an eggplant grows larger, the skin can become tough and bitter — something that I prefer to avoid.

What do eggplants go with? Flavourings: garlic, chilli, onion, basil, mint, cumin, parsley, coriander, oregano. Ingredients: haloumi, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, anchovies, olives, tomatoes, eggs, beef, lamb, tahini, yoghurt, lemon juice, olives and olive oil.

Salting: Salting removes excess liquid and some of the bitterness. Today's eggplants are bred for mildness, though, so it's not as important as it used to be (if you are frying eggplant, salting will ensure a creamy texture and rich flavor). This method works for eggplant slices, cubes, or planks.

Furthermore, adding a good amount of salt will help tenderize the eggplant and keep its shape. Let the eggplant sit: Place the seasoned eggplant over a colander for 30 minutes to an hour. Once beads of moisture start to appear, rinse your eggplant slices under cold water and remove excess salt.

Soak eggplant slices or cubes in milk for about 30 minutes before cooking. The milk not only tempers the bitterness, but it actually makes for eggplant that is extra creamy, since the vegetable acts like a sponge and soaks up a good amount of milk in its flesh.

This process takes time, as the salt is drawing moisture out of the eggplant. You'll need 30 minutes at the minimum, but you can leave them up to an hour and a half. Watch for moisture beading up on the eggplant, which is what you want. Rinse the salt off.

It helps draw out moisture from the eggplant. You don't have to salt eggplant though, it depends on the texture your looking for. Salting gives it a more creamy texture when cooked and not salting helps the eggplant hold up and be a little firmer after cooked.

Why is my eggplant parm soggy? ›

Adding too much sauce to your eggplant Parmesan will result in soggy eggplant Parmesan soup. Traditionally the tomato sauce for eggplant Parmesan is made with passata, which is an uncooked tomato puree. But you can make it from crushed tomatoes too.

“The absorptiveness of eggplant can be reduced by collapsing its spongy structure before frying,” he writes. Which you can do by microwaving it before frying (!) or salting slices that'll draw out the water and close up those air pockets, giving you a firmer flesh to work with.

Why do you soak eggplant in water and vinegar? Soaking eggplant in water and vinegar helps remove some of the vegetable's natural bitterness. This step also helps preserve some of the skin's color so it stays a vibrant purple even after cooking.