The Common Aubergine Advice Chefs Like Nigella Lawson Ignore

To salt or not to salt, that is the question...

I love a good cooking hack, whether it’s the Gordon Ramsay-approved technique of removing the slimy middles of cucumbers for your salad or Mary Berry’s semolina coating for extra-crispy roast potatoes.

Which means that for years, I salted my aubergines before cooking them. I grew up hearing that it took that bitter taste from the veg and improved its texture.

But on Nigella Lawson’s site entry about her At My Table beef and aubergine fatteh recipe, the chef’s team recommended skipping the step.

After a deeper dive, I learned that everyone from Nigel Slater to Ottolenghi avoids pre-salting for the majority of aubergine dishes.

Do I need to salt aubergines before cooking?

There are a few reasons people do this, including:

Removing their bitter flavour,

Drawing out moisture for a crispier/less mushy result.

We’ll deal with these one by one.

Does salting aubergines make them less bitter?

Nigella’s site reads:........

© HuffPost