AlleyGator wrote:
> <PENMART01> wrote:
>
> >Why anyone would want to use raw veggies in lasagna is a mystery...
> >makes as much sense as using raw meatballs/sausage... saute the zukes
> >the same as one should any other veggie added to lasagna... even better
> >is to grill them. Folks who've indicated removal of zuke liquid by the
> >eggplant method but then not precooking the zuke before use in lasagna
> >have proven to me that they've never made lasgana or even fried an
> >eggplant, in fact they is an eggplant... I mean like even removing the
> >water from eggplant by salting it's still gotta be cooked before using.
>
> I don't know if that's always true or just based on the particular
> recipe, Sheldon.

Of course you know, or you'd not ask... the particular recipe here is
for lasagna, and similar dishes.

> I have one for zucchini fritters, where they're
> shredded and it calls for the salt technique. I've never tried it any
> other way so I can't say for sure, but it's something to experiment
> with. It ain't like a ruined zuke is gonna break the bank. And I'm
> just talking about the salt part, not the pre-cooking - seems to me
> that's always a good idea.

With baked goods a proper recipe should account for the liquid
contained in ingredients by appropriately adjusting the other liquid(s)
in the recipe. Fritters are donuts, deep frying extracts liquid quite
rapidly... the idea of the shredded zuke is primarilly to give the
fritter a moist interior (and some nutrition), otherise the recipe
would call for wheat bran instead. Most recipes found in cookbooks are
written by people who they themselves can't properly cook, and the few
who do really know how to cook dumb down their recipes to the lowest
common denominator... rarely do recipe writers explain why a particular
method is used, especially not when it comes to nutrition, because 99%
of the time they haven't a clue, haven't even given it a thought.

I don't recommend cooking methods that extract liquid from food unless
that liquid will be used in some other way... otherwise you're
essentially making stock, straining the liquid down the drain, and
eating what remains. When liquid is evaporated in the course of
cooking only water is lost, most nutrients do not evaporate. It's bad
enough people peel and toss the vegetable skin in the trash, then they
wring out what little nutrition is left and pour it down the drain...
like straining blueberry soup... may as well shove the zuke up a body
cavity, at least that way it'll be of some use. There's a whole lot
more to cooking than dumbly following recipes. Unless nutrition
contained in ingredients is maximized it's not really cooking... any
jerk can learn to apply a sprig of parsley to an attractively arranged
plate of excrement.

You've just been given a special gift, you've been apprised of the most
important aspect of cooking, Alley... nutrition... try to digest and
retain... and with that alone you'll know more about cooking than 90%
of those who post here.

Sheldon