I'm trying to figure out the best way to smoke eggplant for babaganoush. On a gas grill, I'd sear, then move to an upper rack at 400 until it is soft. But in my smoker, it just seems to dry out. I'm wondering if anyone has a trick? Submerge in cold water for a while? Use a water pan? Thanks for any advice.
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If I was going to do this, here is the approach that I would take. This is just my best guess.
I would throw some wood chips or a chunk of wood onto the flavorizer bars and get it smoking. This will give you a little shot of smoke. I would soak the sliced egg plant in water before cooking as well. I would grill them at about 350 to 400 F. until tender.
Let me know if you end up doing this. I am curious to hear how it comes out. -
You might want to try cutting in half and brining in something around eight percent salt solution 45 to an hour. Cooks science has a few grilled vegetable recipes this way and it really does season the entire vegetable. They do zucchini, carrots, asparagus. Eggplant should work out well. Maybe it will keep some moisture in. I usually press eggplant to get the water out but that's for quick grilling. Probably no need to press smoking it. Cheaper than meat so fooling around experimenting won't be to expensive.Comment
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I agree with CandySueQ - I slice them lengthwise too. I smoke them for 30-45 minutes, then chop. Remove from grill when they soften enough for your preferences.Comment
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Best way to smoke eggplant is to simply toss it into your garbage burn pit.Comment
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Tried once with more or less the method that everyone here describes, and they dried out before they turned soft. I still managed to scoop out some of the flesh and chop it but it definitely wasn't as soft as I read it should be. So I guess my input is that it might be easy but it's not foolproof
(And that there might be more to it that's obvious to some but not to me. The key is probably in the "more or less" bit.)
In addition to that, beware that aubergine/eggplant absorbs a TON of smoke flavour. As in, ok while you're grilling but too smoky the day after. Or maybe that's a side effect of the error I made, but when I tried the scooped chopped flesh I describe above the day after it was like chewing on solid smoke.Comment
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i usually make baba ganoush out of 2 aubergines and i agree: they really do take on a bit too much smoke. i put a few thick slices on the colder side of the bbq and put the rest salted and coated in some olive oil in the oven, solves both the smoke and the drying out problem.Comment
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Kinda sounds like the best way to smoke it is to make a good Marcella Hazen Parmigiana instead. Anyway, we have some huge ones coming in (some kind of Syrian one, and a typical Italian), and will need to figure out the approach!Comment
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I am wondering why you would want to do that to the grates of your smoker. Is it just me?Comment
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