Eggplant Parmesan (2024)

FAQs

Do you leave the skin on eggplant for eggplant Parmesan? ›

Do you have to peel eggplant before you cook it? The peel of an eggplant is completely edible. However, as the eggplant grows bigger and matures, the peel may become tough and bitter. People often prefer to peel larger eggplants because of this, but smaller eggplants do just fine unpeeled.

For a quick and easy eggplant parm, Trader Joe's once sold frozen breaded eggplant cutlets. However, during the fall of 2019, the grocery chain discontinued the product, leaving many shoppers heartbroken.

Remember, this is eggplant parm, not sauce parm. You want to do the most to protect your eggplant. Salting it to remove moisture before it starts cooking is very important (and letting it squeeze out excess moisture beneath the weight of a heavy pot for an hour is crucial, 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.

We want less seeds to have the driest eggplant slices possible. Also, bigger eggplants can yield a more bitter taste. (We actually got to PICK our own italian eggplants in Tuscany for this dish). parmesan cheese - Don't you DARE buy the pre-shredded kind!

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.

Eggplants are known to absorb a lot of fat while cooking. 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.

Not only that, it helps to season the eggplant from the inside out, which means the creamy interior will taste every bit as delicious as the browned, caramelized exterior that you sprinkled with salt right before cooking. We can guarantee these eggplants aren't gross. Because we salted them.

Eggplant parmesan tends to be lighter on the stomach and is considered to be more healthy. Eggplant is also less expensive. Restaurants find that it is a much cheaper option for guests.

This version states that the term actually derives from the Sicilian word 'parmiciana,' the little wooden strips that form a shutter – recalling the partially overlapping arrangment of fried eggplant used in the dish.

What is a substitute for eggplant in eggplant parmesan? ›

In my case, I've ended up with a few large zucchini that seem to have materialized overnight, and this recipe, a riff on eggplant Parmesan, is one of my favorite ways to use them. The substitution here is very simple: I just use the zucchini in place of the eggplant.

Make-Ahead Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant Parmesan can be time consuming, but most of the work can be done ahead of time. Remove the excess moisture, bread them, then lightly fry.

Chemical Compounds: Blame the bitter taste on naturally occurring compounds called alkaloids that plants can produce to protect themselves as a defense against predators. Eggplants can have the alkaloid solanine, which can give it a bitter taste.

While the skin of a small young eggplant is edible, the skin becomes bitter on larger or older eggplants and should be peeled. When in doubt, the answer to, "Do you peel eggplant before cooking?" is yes, peel it. Use a vegetable peeler or paring knife to remove the skin.

Aside from its green top, the entire eggplant is edible: its purple skin, its white flesh, and the tiny seeds inside. Eggplant contains protein, fiber, and a wide range of vitamins and minerals as well as some antioxidants. Eggplant should be cooked before eating.