Grilled Eggplant Stacks - Divalicious Recipes (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep grilled eggplant from getting soggy? ›

Depending on the recipe, you might want to slice and salt globe eggplant slices before cooking them in order to draw out some of the water and keep them from turning to mush. In On Food and Cooking, Harold McGee writes that because eggplants are filled with tiny air pockets, they function like sponges.

Luckily, there is a way to grill tender, flavorful eggplant. This easy recipe uses the power of salted water (or brining) to guarantee great grilled eggplant. It's easy and adds 30 minutes to this otherwise quick recipe, but it's worth it.

Milk is said to help draw out the bitterness in eggplant. Our recipe doesn't call for milk, but if you're worried that your eggplant will taste bitter, you can soak the slices in milk for 20 to 30 minutes. Drain and pat them dry before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.

Sweating -- where you sprinkle the eggplant with salt and let it sit for 30 mins or so in a colander to get out the "bitter" juices.

Undercooked eggplant is often bitter, especially if you're using a thick-skinned globe eggplant commonly found at most grocery stores. Peel the skin or taste and cook the eggplant for a little longer if that's the case.

A useful tip to prevent sogginess and greasiness is to salt sliced or diced eggplant and let it sit for an hour. This helps to draw out moisture. Next, rinse and drain any liquid from the sliced eggplant, then pat dry before cooking.

Carefully rinse each piece of eggplant under cold water, making sure you remove all the salt. Drain. Step 3: Transfer the rinsed eggplant pieces, a few at a time, to a clean work surface and pat dry with paper towel.

Older recipes call for salting eggplant to draw out the bitter juices, but today's eggplants are less bitter (unless very large), so salting is largely unnecessary. It will, however, help the spongy flesh absorb less oil and crisp up like a dream.

Not cooking it in enough fat.

You need to be a little more generous in order for there to be enough oil on the outside of the eggplant to cook properly.

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.

Should I salt eggplant before grilling? ›

Not necessarily; it depends on what you're looking for in the finished dish. 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.

Roast the eggplant until the skin gets wrinkly and begins to collapse – which means the flesh inside has become lovely and tender – usually between 45-60 minutes. You can check the tenderness with a knife, too – it should slide through the baked whole eggplant with little resistance.

Wrap each eggplant in a paper towel or inside a paper bag with the top left open. That way the fruits can still breathe, and the paper will absorb any excess moisture that could cause them to unduly soften.

Cooked eggplant will last between three and five days in the refrigerator.