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To Fry Egg-Plant
Cut the egg-plant in thick slices, carefully paring each piece. Throw it in salt and water, and let it remain there several hours. Take from the water, drain and wipe. Then butter the slices of egg-plant, dip in beaten egg, then in grated cracker, and fry a light brown. Pepper, grate more cracker over them, and serve.--Mrs. S. T.
A straightforward breaded-and-fried eggplant, with one unusual step: the slices are buttered before breading, which helps the egg cling and adds richness. The long salt soak is the part most modern cooks will want to shorten.
- The salt soak"Salt and water" here is a brine; a couple of tablespoons of salt per quart is a reasonable reading, though the recipe gives no proportions. Several hours is longer than most cooks need today; 30 to 45 minutes draws out enough moisture and bitterness from modern varieties, which are generally milder than older ones. Dry the slices thoroughly or the coating will slide off.
- Thick slicesTake that literally in the range of half an inch. Thinner slices collapse into the coating; much thicker and the interior is still spongy when the crust has browned.
- Grated crackerThis means dry, unsalted soda or water crackers crushed fine — the period's all-purpose breading. Unsalted saltines or plain matzo crackers give the closest texture; panko is coarser and behaves differently. Allow about a cup for a medium eggplant.
- Buttering the slicesSoften the butter rather than melting it, and spread it thinly on both sides. Melted butter will thin the egg wash and the coating will not set.
- Frying fat and heatFry in about a quarter inch of fat over medium heat — hot enough to sizzle steadily but not so hot that the cracker crumbs scorch before the flesh softens. Figure three to four minutes a side; the flesh should be fully tender, since undercooked eggplant is unpleasantly squeaky.
- The final gratingCracker crumbs strewn over the hot slices, in place of the cheese a modern cook might reach for. Season with pepper as directed; the brine has already salted the flesh.
- YieldOne medium eggplant gives 8 to 10 slices, enough for four as a side dish. Serve at once — the crust softens within minutes.
Eggplant was an established Southern garden vegetable by the time Housekeeping in Old Virginia appeared in 1879, and Marion Cabell Tyree's collection, assembled from contributions by Virginia housekeepers identified by name or initials like the "Mrs. S. T." credited here, includes several treatments of it. Jefferson is recorded as having grown eggplant at Monticello, and older English usage sometimes called the vegetable the "mad apple." Egg and cracker crumb was a common American coating in this period, since finely ground dry crackers kept well in a pantry that might not have fresh bread crumbs on hand. The long soak in salt water reflects a concern of the day: older eggplant varieties are reported to have been more bitter than the cultivars sold now, and a number of period cookbooks call for the soak.