pafret Loc: Northeast

Melanzane ‘Sotto Olio’ Pickled Eggplant Our Way


This “pickle” makes excellent sandwiches and I have fond memories of many such chewy sandwiches when I was brown–bagging for high school lunches. When the eggplant pickle is ready for use, it is a dark color, and stringy; most of the seeds have been removed leaving the compressed pulp surrounding them. And they are chewy!

My sister, Betty, was steeped in the same tradition so she also made these and sent her kids to school with the same kind of sandwiches. Her son, Marty, was at lunch one day when the usual group of scoffers saw his sandwich and said “Eeeuew, what’s that? Marty didn’t blink an eye, he continued masticating and swallowing, then he replied “Leather Sandwiches!”. This may be Melazane Sotto Olio to everyone else but from that day forward, it has been known as Leather Sandwiches in my family.

Although Garlic has been identified as a source of Botulism, my family has been using the techniques listed in the steps below for more than 70 years, to my recollection and these practices came from Italy where this kind of preservation is common. To date, we have not had a problem. My opinion is that the residual salt and vinegar are sufficient to prevent growth of Clostridium Botulinum; these bacteria require an anaerobic, low-salt, low-acid, low-sugar environment at ambient temperatures. This is definitely not low-salt or low-acid.

25 to 30 Large Eggplants
White or Cider Vinegar (1 Gal +)
Kosher Salt (3 lbs +)
Olive oil – good, not Extra Virgin
5 Oz dried Basil
25 large Heads Garlic, sliced thin
5 Oz dried Oregano
2 Tblsp of Red Pepper Flakes (QB)
5 Oz dried parsley, (optl)
2 Gallon Crock or straight sided plastic (food grade) container
4’ Square Muslin or old cotton sheet

· All knives, cutting boards, work areas should be cleaned and sanitized before starting. I use Clorox Cleanup for this purpose and then rinse and wipe down surfaces with paper towels.
· Set up a large, sanitized, drain-board so you can leave salted eggplant slices on it overnight. I use a plastic dish-drain-board with a lip that hangs over the sink edge and I tilt it with an inverted dinner plate under the far end so any juices drain into the sink.
· Clean the eggplants (mild detergent, thorough rinse). Examine the shape of each eggplant, decide how you will slice it lengthwise, then peel the skin off the sides. Just the sides -- no need to do the whole thing. If you really don’t like the skins peel the whole thing.
· Slice the eggplant about ¼” thick length wise.
· Layer the strips on the drain-board with a slight overlap, in a circular pattern, about 16 – 18 inches across. You are going to repeat this with each eggplant so be careful of how you stack these.
· As each layer is completed sprinkle it with Generous amounts of Kosher Salt. Do be generous, this is part of the preservation process.
· When you have sliced all the eggplants, salted each layer abundantly, evenly, and completed the stack, it will be a drum about a foot high or a little more; it should stand firmly if it was stacked properly. If it looks like it will tip you didn’t stack it right so you get to disassemble the stack and do it over. Get it right the first time!
· Cover the stack with the square of cloth. You can wrap it around a bit to help support the stack. This prevents any vermin from infesting the eggplant while it is draining. Make sure the edges of the cloth rest on the drainboard, not the counter or it will wick the salty, black, eggplant juice all over your counter.
· Put a large cutting board on top of the stack to evenly distribute the weight to be added. Then put a stock pot, on top of the cutting board and fill it with water, this will compress the stack and squeeze the bitter juices out.
· At this point, the stack should be left for 24 hours to complete the salt migration and most of the draining
· The next day (24 hours later) remove and drain the stock pot (reserve the pot if it is non-reactive) and remove the cloth cover. The eggplant slices will be considerably compressed.
· Take a small wad of the eggplants and hand squeeze them over the sink as though you were killing your worst enemy. More salty, bitter, juice will come out.
· This part of the process requires strong hands and stamina, additional help doing this is advisable but not necessary if you like pain.
· Toss the squeezed wad of eggplant into the stock pot and repeat the squeezing until all the eggplant is done.
· Pour in enough Vinegar to cover the eggplant by about an inch. Use whatever vinegar you can get the cheapest, it will be discarded later. Let the pot sit with a cover on it for 24 hours.
· Alternate: From other sources: Shake out the wads, of eggplant, to separate slices then add to the non-reactive stock pot. Make a mix of water to vinegar 1 to 2 ratio (1 Qt water, 2 Qt vinegar), pour over the eggplant to cover and bring to a boil. As soon as it boils, shut the heat off and allow the eggplant to cool in the water. When it cools, drain and squeeze out excess water. I NEVER USE THIS METHOD.
· While the pot is cooling or marinating, mix the spices in a large bowl and stir them to make a uniform mixture. Separate the garlic cloves from the heads. You can also use pre-cleaned garlic cloves. Just make sure they have no visible molds.
· Peel the garlic cloves when you are near to the end of cooling and squeezing or marinating the egg plant slices. Discard any cloves that are not perfect; any bruise, rot or whatever and it goes into some other use or the garbage can.
· After 24 hours drain vinegar and shake out the slices vigorously to get rid of excess seeds. You will be left with stringy leathery pulp. (Best done outdoors, this makes a mess.)
· Chop the garlic slightly finer than a coarse chop, you don’t want a mince but you also don’t want pieces bigger than ¼ inch. Do not stint on the garlic, the final product benefits greatly from copious amounts of garlic. Mix the Garlic and herbs very well.
· Use a suitable size Crock or food grade plastic tub with straight sides and a lid if possible and start layering, with a generous sprinkle of herb garlic mix on the bottom, a thin layer of olive oil, then eggplants. (This amount of eggplant fits in my two gallon crock.)
· Be very careful at this stage to pack the eggplants very tightly, you don’t want air pockets. Continue with alternate layers of spices and eggplants, again be generous with the spice mix. Add a little olive oil as you work (just a little, don’t float the eggplants) and observe if there are puddles (not enough eggplant) or bubbles. Eliminate any problems noted as you continue, they can be fixed easily at this point, not very easily when completed.
· Another Warning: -- Pack the eggplants down as tightly and evenly as possible, this is the key to no spoilage.
· After you have packed all the spice-eggplant layers, finish with a final heavy layer of spices and fill the container with olive oil, to one inch over the top of the eggplant.
· Use a long handled wooden spoon and insert the handle down through the layers along the sides of the container. Wiggle it and see if you can bring up any air bubbles or if the olive oil level drops. Do this as many times as it takes for there to be no further bubbles or drop in level. Replenish the oil as needed to keep the level about an inch over the top.
· Put a small plate or other device on top of the eggplant to keep them under the oil. Never let any of the eggplant to stick out of the oil as it will grow mold and could contaminate the whole container. Use a suitable cover for your container to keep out dust, mold spores and vermin.
· Let the eggplants sit on the counter for about 2-3 weeks before using. Each time you remove some, make sure the eggplants are covered with an inch of oil, and are not sticking out. Add oil as needed. These will last on the counter all winter unless of course you have eaten all of them sooner.

The oil becomes highly flavored and can be used in salads or for other cooking purposes. Just be sure to replenish the container with new oil.