Since the last update of my kitchen diary, it seems like more than two months have passed. In fact, I have been advancing my cooking skills. Why haven't I updated my kitchen diary? Because during the process, I found that there are too many combinations of dishes, and it's unnecessary to write a guide for each combination. That would be a waste of effort and not very meaningful.
After much thought, I have decided to no longer update the step-by-step guides for cooking. I think there are already plenty of guides online. Instead, I will focus on sharing some problems and details encountered in cooking. This way, not only can I have a deeper memory of them, but I can also share more interesting things to make my friends happy.
Today, I made a dish, Braised Eggplant. While preparing the eggplant, I found that the skin was quite tough, and I was wondering whether to peel it (don't laugh at me, because I have never cooked eggplant before). After thinking for a while, I couldn't come up with a reason, so I directly searched on Baidu, "Should I peel eggplant when cooking?" The first search result said:
"No. Nutrition experts suggest that it is best not to peel eggplant when eating it, because the skin and the connecting part between the skin and the flesh of the eggplant contain a large amount of beneficial substances for human health, such as rutin, vitamin E, and vitamin P. If the eggplant skin is removed, the nutritional value will be reduced."
Hmm, that's good. No need to peel it. But as a senior user of Baidu and Google, how could I only trust the first search result? I scrolled down and found a response from a user on Zhihu:
Whether to peel eggplant or not depends on what dish you are making. If it's a home-style eggplant dish, it's best not to peel it. If it's fried eggplant, because of the need to make decorative cuts, you should also not peel it. If it's eggplant casserole, then peeling is necessary.
After some consideration, it seems to make sense. I was quite pleased, so I adopted their suggestion. Today, I made Braised Eggplant, so there's no need to peel it. I can just stir-fry it directly.
I also learned a new cooking tip.
Closing remarks: When you're feeling down or have something on your mind, you can do something to distract yourself, like cooking. Not only can you enjoy the food and life, but you can also gain a sense of accomplishment in your heart. I feel like it's a win-win situation.