French Fried Eggplant The Picayune

You will also need:

1. A large mixing bowl.
2. A cotton dish towel.
3. Two cooling racks each placed over a rimmed baking pan. These are a useful place to arrange the fries before frying and to drain them afterwards.
4. A heavy-bottomed pot or a deep, heavy-bottomed skillet for deep-frying the eggplant.
5. A candy/deep fry thermometer is useful for judging the oil’s temperature and adjusting it as the eggplant slices fry.

1. Fill a mixing bowl with salted water. Peel the eggplants and cut them into large french fries that are about 1/2-inch (1 cm) thick. Another way of describing the cut and size is: cut the eggplant as you would potatoes for making ‘steak fries’.
2. Put the slices into the bowl and soak them for 30 minutes in the salted water.
3. Drain the eggplant slices, spread them out in a cotton dish towel, and pat them dry. Mix the egg and milk in the mixing bowl and season with salt and several grinds of white pepper. Place the pan of flour close at hand.
4. Dip the eggplant slices in the egg and milk batter, roll them in the flour and place the battered fries on one of the cooling racks set in a rimmed baking pan.
5. Heat the oil in the frying pot or deep skillet to around 375 F. Once the oil is hot, add the eggplant slices into the oil. Fry the eggplant slices a few at a time, adjusting the heat to keep the oil at a temperature between 350 and 375 F. A batch of 4 will be done in 3-4 minutes. Remove the cooked fries from the oil and place the fries to drain on the second cooling rack placed in a rimmed pan. Sprinkle them with a few grinds of salt and white pepper and serve them hot. Repeat with the remaining fries.

Suggested sauces for accompanying the french fried eggplant: A recipe for Sauce Remoulade Cajun Style is given in the Related Link. It is more highly seasoned than a traditional remoulade and contains no eggs or mayonnaise. A simple sauce made by mixing prepared horseradish to taste in some ketchup is another very good alternative.

An acknowledgement: French Fried Eggplant The Picayune is adapted from a recipe in ‘The Picayune’s Creole Cook Book (4th edition, 1910), which is available to read free online, courtesy of Cornell University’s collection in the Internet Archive.