Should You Salt Eggplant Before Cooking?  A lot of recipes tell
you to salt sliced eggplant and let it sit for up to half an
hour before cooking, to draw out bitterness. But Chowhounds
think that, while large globe eggplants don't seem as bitter as
they used to be, and smaller Italian and Asian eggplants rarely
are anyway, there are other reasons to salt.  "Salting ...
causes it to absorb much less oil" when cooked, bitchincook
says. "The end product is also firmer to the bite." herby
agrees: Salting "closes those pores that otherwise will suck as
much oil as you give them!" gingershelley just likes the texture
of eggplant that's salted before cooking.  Older globe eggplants
can still taste bitter, however. The seeds are a pretty good
indicator, hollyd says. "If the seeds are dark when I cut it, I
salt ... if they're light, I skip it."  Discuss: Salting
aubergine (eggplant) - obsolete?  Photograph of CHOW's Eggplant
Parmesan recipe by Chris Rochelle /