How long eggplant salt

Theoretically, anyway, the more liquid you pulled, the more noticeable the effect. I ran a second set of experiments, salting and pressing the eggplant under a weight. This time, half the eggplant slices had been salted and stacked in a colander under a weighted plate.

Just to double-check, I cooked an unsalted slice alongside. Again, salting made a difference in texture, but pressing only seemed to be noticeable over extended salting times more than a couple of hours.

Even then, though, the difference was small. So, should you always salt eggplant before frying? Though salting works when you want the eggplant to be creamy and tender — such as with parmigiana — in those cases where you want the eggplant to retain its shape and have a slightly firmer texture — such as ratatouille — you can skip it.

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Wes Avila to open a new Mexican restaurant in Hollywood next month. We officially give you permission to go ahead and skip that step. Have a bit more time on your hands and want to go the extra mile? Just do it! Whether you're working with slices or chunks, all you have to do is generously season the exposed areas of the eggplant with kosher salt , and place them on a plate or sheet pan lined with paper towels to help soak up the moisture that comes out. And if you really want to go the extra-extra mile, you can arrange the salted pieces on a paper towel-lined baking sheet, place another layer of paper towels over them, and place another baking sheet over top, and weigh that down with a few heavy cans from the cupboard.

Of course, that's only true because you rinse almost all the salt off. What's the best way to salt eggplant, and what does salting it accomplish? By Marge Perry Updated October 11, Save Pin FB More. Conventional wisdom has you salt the slices to draw bitter liquid out of the eggplant.

Once the slices have sat for about a hour, you're suppose to rinse them under cool water to remove any excess salt and then proceed with your recipe. But I'll admit something: I never do this.

I never have the foresight or, frankly, the time.