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Podcast: Sangre Celestial
Episode:

Eggplant: The luxurious flavor sponge
Category: Arts
Duration: 00:00:00
Publish Date: 2025-09-18 19:00:00
Description: Eggplant is one of those divisive vegetables. Some people love it, while others avoid it at all costs. While I might find properly cooking eggplant to have a rich silkiness and a texture that sops up flavor, others may recoil from what they perceive to be a slippery and spongy texture. Its uniqueness comes largely from its structure, which is made up of cells with lots of air pockets. Those pockets allow the eggplant to soak up oil, fat, and flavor. Depending on how you treat it, eggplant can be meltingly tender, smoky, chewy, or crisp. But whatever you do, never undercook it. No one likes leathery eggplant. Szechwan-style eggplant is fragrant and full of flavor. Courtesy of Shutterstock. You can take a tour around the globe through eggplant recipes. But first up: two of my favorites. Instead of making eggplant parm, which I do on occasion, why not push out the boat and make my eggplant timbale ? It’s a lighter parm because it’s not breaded and formed into a cake with eggplant slices holding it together. It’s a gorgeous party dish, and it’s not hard to do. The other eggplant dish I made a gazillion times at Angeli, and which was a staple on our antipasti misti, is balsamic-basil marinated eggplant. You cut the eggplant into thinish rounds, brush or drizzle with olive oil, and grill them until they are cooked through and soft. Then the rounds are layered with minced garlic, balsamic vinegar, and a fine julienne of basil. You can serve after a quick 30-minute marinade at room temp, or you can let them marinate overnight in the fridge. They are delicious as an antipasto just like this. But we would roll up batons of fresh mozzarella into the eggplant for countless charity events. Caponata can be extremely varied. Credit: Shutterstock. From the Middle East, you have baba ghanoush , where eggplants are charred whole over open flames or in the oven, scooped out, and the flesh seasoned with tahini, lemon, and garlic. In Romania , the soft, smoky flesh is mixed with tomatoes, pepper, onion, lemon, and parsley for a completely different result. Then there is imam bayildi, an Ottoman dish where the eggplant is stuffed with itself, onion, garlic, tomatoes, herbs, and spices. Moving to Italy, a place where I once saw eggplant prepared 10 different ways on a Sicilian antipasti table, we have melanzane alla parmigiana aka eggplant parmesan; caponata , the Italian answer to ratatouille; and all many of fried preparations from simple breaded slices to fritters. From China, we have fish-fragrant fggplants (aka sichuan braised eggplant with garlic, ginger, and chiles) — no actual fish involved. Northern India’s baingan bharta is made of charred eggplant pulp scooped out and mashed with onions, tomatoes, chilies, and spices. Japan has the lightly sweet and uber luxurious nasu dengaku — baked then broiled halved eggplant is brushed with a miso glaze for a sweet, salty, and umami-rich result. I could continue around the world, but this is a good start for you, I think. If you need more, here is a KCRW roundup of eggplant dishes. As for which eggplant type to choose, it’s best to follow whatever recipe you're making. A fat globe eggplant has a different texture from long Chinese or Japanese varieties. Do you need to salt your eggplants? Traditionally, eggplants (especially older varieties) had higher levels of phenolic compounds, which can make them taste bitter. Salting (and sometimes pressing) helped draw out both water and some of these bitter compounds, leaving behind milder, sweeter flesh. You cut the eggplant in the form you’ll use for cooking, then sprinkle salt over it as you would to season it, and let it drain for about 30 minutes in a colander or on paper towels. Then you rinse, dry the eggplant before proceeding with your recipe. It takes a lot of time and sometimes space. And while salting eggplant used to be essential to remove the eggplant’s bitter juices, today’s varieties don’t need it to reduce bitterness. It's mostly a technique to reduce oil absorption when frying. When making eggplant parmesan or fritters, salting can keep slices from soaking up too much oil. And if you are deep-frying cubes or slices, salting will help them stay golden and not soggy. But really, it’s not essential like it used to be. For charred, grilled, or roasted dishes like baba ghanoush or baingan bharta, the high dry heat cooks out any bitterness, and oil absorption isn’t a concern. And for curries and braises where eggplant is stewed with onions or tomatoes, bitterness gets diluted and balanced.
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