It’s okay to rinse off excess salt.
People sometimes think that, if you rinse eggplant after salting to extract moisture, you’ll “re-introduce” water into the eggplant. You won’t, for reasons explained in the post for 24-hour slaw from Sun City, Arizona.
But the short version: the water is held in cells which are being ruptured by attempts to reach equilibrium with the salt. So rinsing eggplant after salting doesn’t make it watery for the same reason that blowing air into a popped balloon doesn’t inflate it.
From the box of C.N. from De Soto, Kansas.
Fried Eggplant
- Place eggplant and cut in very thin slices.
- Sprinkle slices with salt and pile on a plate.
- Let stand 30 minutes. Press on vegetable to press out the juice.
- Dredge with flour and [saute?] in butter or meat, frying until delicately browned and crisp.
Catherine Nichepor