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Broiled Eggplant
Peel and cut a medium egg plant into quarter-inch slices. Mix on a plate a tablespoon oil, teaspoon salt and half teaspoon pepper. Turn pieces in seasoning, arrange on a double broiler and broil three minutes on each side. Remove, dress on a dish and serve.
A plain treatment that depends entirely on heat and fat. The original quantities of both are on the lean side for a modern kitchen.
- "Double broiler" is a hinged wire basketNot a double boiler. It is a two-sided wire grid that clamps the slices between it so they can be flipped over the coals in one motion. A grill basket does the same job; a grill pan, a hot cast-iron skillet, or an oven broiler element all work if you turn the slices individually.
- A tablespoon of oil is not enoughEggplant flesh is spongy and drinks oil on contact. One tablespoon will coat perhaps two slices of a medium fruit. Reckon on 3-4 tablespoons for a whole eggplant, or brush both faces rather than turning the slices in a pool of it.
- Under a modern broilerPosition the rack 4-5 inches from the element and preheat it fully. Three minutes a side is about right at that distance; the slices should be browned in patches and yielding to a fork, not merely scorched at the edges while still squeaky in the middle.
- Salting firstThe recipe salts and cooks immediately, which is fine for a fresh, firm eggplant. If yours is large, seedy, or has been sitting, salt the slices and let them drain 20-30 minutes, then blot dry -- this collapses the sponge slightly so the flesh takes less oil, and drives off any bitterness.
- Quarter-inch is thinAt that thickness the slices cook through in the time given but curl and dry easily. Half an inch is more forgiving under a broiler and gives a creamier interior; add a minute or so per side.
- PeelingThe recipe directs peeling, which suits a large fruit with tough skin. Modern globe and Italian varieties have thin skin that holds the slice together on the grid, so leaving it on is reasonable.
- Yield and servingA medium eggplant is enough for three or four as a side. It wants an acid finish the recipe does not mention -- lemon, vinegar, or a spoonful of tomato -- and is as good warm as hot.
Eggplant reached European and American tables by way of the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and cookbooks of this period often filed it under foreign or Southern cookery rather than everyday vegetables. Broiling was the simplest possible way to present it -- no coating, no sauce, nothing but oil, salt and pepper -- and the technique assumes a range with an overhead broiler and a hinged double wire broiler.