You Can Be an Eggplant Expert

Choosing: Select eggplants that feel heavy and have glossy, firm skin with no bruises or soft brown spots. The skin should not be shriveled. I’ve encountered really bitter ones only two or three times, when I accidentally brought home eggplants that were very hard and greenish, especially near their caps. Although eggplants should not be soft, they should give somewhat when pressed. They should have good color for their variety. It’s better to use small or medium eggplants because very large ones are practically guaranteed to be seedy.

Storing: An eggplant keeps fresh for about three days in the refrigerator. If you keep it longer, its appearance may not alter, but it can become bitter if it’s too old.

Roasting: Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Prick each eggplant 5 or 6 times with a fork. Set them in a shallow roasting pan--lined with foil, if you like. Bake them, turning them over once, until they are very soft when you press them and look collapsed, 45 to 60 minutes. Let stand until cool enough to handle. Cut off the caps and peel the skin.

Broiling: Prick each eggplant 5 or 6 times with a fork. Set them on a broiler rack or broiler pan. Broil the eggplants, turning them over occasionally, until soft, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Grilling: Prick each eggplant 5 or 6 times with a fork. Set them on a barbecue at medium-or medium-high heat. Grill eggplants, turning them over occasionally, for 30 to 40 minutes or until they feel soft when you press them. You can use lower heat if your coals have cooled; the eggplant will simply take longer.

Peeling: However you have cooked the eggplants, let them stand until cool enough to handle. Cut off the caps and pull off the eggplant peel. You can peel eggplants most easily while they are still slightly warm from cooking; often you can simply pull off the skin. If they’ve cooled completely, peel them with the aid of a paring knife or halve them lengthwise and scoop out the pulp with a spoon. Roasted eggplants are the easiest to peel.

Draining: Cut the peeled eggplants in half lengthwise and put them in a colander. Leave for about 10 minutes to drain any liquid from inside.

Seasoning and Serving Eggplant Spreads: Eggplant tastes best when well seasoned with salt and pepper. Taste the spreads several times and be generous with the seasoning. In the Middle East, the traditional way to present these is to spread them in a fairly thick layer on a flat plate, so it’s easy to scoop up with pieces of pita.

Storing Spreads: You can store cooked eggplant pulp for three days in a covered container in the refrigerator. The finished spreads keep two to three days if made with raw garlic or onion, four days if made with cooked. The flavor of raw garlic or onion becomes stronger the longer you keep the spread and may be overpowering after more than a couple of days.