DO you peel an eggplant?!
Answers: j/w
Peel and salt for a big improvement in texture and flavor.
Because globe eggplant and other large varieties usually have tough skins, peeling it is a good idea, especially if you're serving it in chunks or slices, as with the Eggplant with Tomato & Garlic Sauce and the Grilled Eggplant Sandwich. Even then, I don't like to remove the skin entirely. Instead, I partially peel it in a striped fashion, the way Turkish cooks do. For the Eggplant with Fragrant Spices and the Eggplant & Pepper Dip, you'll be char-roasting the eggplant and separating the flesh from the peel, so keep the skin on during cooking to keep the eggplant intact.
Globe eggplant works deliciously in just about any eggplant dish, provided you salt it first. Salting, also known as purging, accomplishes two goals:
Preventing greasiness. Globe eggplant, whose flesh is especially spongelike, tends to soak up more oil than other varieties. If you've ever brushed a raw, unsalted slice with oil, you've probably noticed how readily the eggplant absorbed it. According to food scientist Harold McGee, salting draws out water and helps collapse the air pockets in globe eggplant's spongy flesh. This makes the eggplant much less able to soak up lots of oil during frying or grilling.
Reducing bitterness. Salt pulls out juices that carry bitter flavors sometimes found in globe eggplant. (Agricultural scientists say that the bitterness, as well as the mouth-tingle that some people get from eggplant, is caused by alkaloids, bitter-tasting compounds concentrated in and around eggplant's seeds.) Salting may also serve to overpower any bitter flavors.
To salt eggplant, peel it and then slice, cube, or quarter it, depending on the recipe. Sprinkle the pieces generously with salt and let them sit in a colander for an hour (you'll usually see a lot of liquid beading on the surface). Rinse the eggplant in plenty of water to remove the salt, firmly squeeze a few pieces at a time in the palm of your hand to draw out almost all the moisture, and then pat the eggplant dry with paper towels. Thorough drying is important; squeezing out excess moisture will give you a less greasy result.
You can , but it is a real pain in the butt. I just cook mine and then the skin pulls easily away.
i never peel eggplant when i cook it but im guessing a peeler..
i use a potato peeler to peel mine. i was told that the 'bitterness' is in the skin...
It depends on the recipe! The skin helps keep the shape of the eggplant.
i do, the peel can be a bit bitter
With a carrot/potato peeler.
You don't have to. It's fine to eat.
Yes, use a vegetable peeler or a small paring knife and go top to bottom with the grain.
If using in cooking dishes like parmigiana, pastas, caponata, PEEL away!
BUT...
If you are grilling/roasting and want to protect the shape & integrity of the vegetable, leave the skin on! Whether cutting it in rounds or lengthwise it look much better and taste good.
I leave the skin on. I also sprinkle some sugar over the eggplant, so it doesn't taste bitter. If you want to remove you can use a potato peeler.
no, we eat the skin ............