Salting raw eggplant: we have some regular eggplant that we have sliced for grilling. Do we salt them, let them sit and then pat them dry?

Or should we rinse them after they've sat for awhile, then pat them dry before grilling. We're used to cooking with the thin ones AntoniaJames buys at the Asian market. They don't need salting. Help!! Thank you.

Mr. T
  • Posted by: Mr. T
  • July 20, 2011
  • 4553 views
  • 8 Comments

8 Comments

Mr. T.
Mr. T. July 21, 2011
We followed hardlikearmour's suggestion, salting for about 1 1/2 hours (while we went for a run in our nearby redwood forest), then rinsed the slices and patted them dry with a tea towel. We tossed the slices with a small amount of olive oil, sprinkled them with salt and then grilled them. They were outstanding! Thank you, everyone, for your help.
 
Summer O.
Summer O. July 21, 2011
I do it the way hardlikearmour does it. Then I let them drain on paper towels for a while and blot them. They still continue to 'sweat' after rinsing.
 
Droplet
Droplet July 21, 2011
@KLL5, actually with eggplant, the main point in salting is to release a bitter compound they contain ( I think it belongs to the nicotine family), and not so much to release water the way you do when you salt, say, zucchini. That's why eggplants aren't very heavy when you lift one.
 
hardlikearmour
hardlikearmour July 21, 2011
@ KLL5: You would think so, but if you don't rinse it will be too salty to eat. It doesn't absorb much water from the rinse in my experience.
 
KLL5
KLL5 July 21, 2011
But... isn't the point of salting to release excess water? SO wouldn't rinsing be counter productive?
 
Droplet
Droplet July 20, 2011
In order to effectively extract the bitter juice from the egplant they need to be salted a bit heavier than regular salting for seasoning purposes, so I always rinse them after degorging and then pat dry.
 
phyllis
phyllis July 20, 2011
Salt, let drain colander for about 30 mins and then pat dry.
 
hardlikearmour
hardlikearmour July 20, 2011
rinse after salting, then pat dry.
 
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