Salting Rondelles of Zucchini

[Porthos]

In my ren faire kitchens some of the veggies we serve are steamed, some are sauteed. We coin (make rondelles) zucchini and saute them. Most of our sauteed veggies get their salt at the end. When my daughter cooks the zucchini (in a 14" saute pan with olive oil over a 30 KBTU burner) she salts them at the beginning of cooking. Her explanation is simple: Salting at the beginning pulls moisture out of the zucchini and allows the exterior to crisp up.  If she waits until the end she ends up with mush because of the high moisture content of the zucchini.

 

My faire nephew who works in the kitchen and who is in culinary school has been giving my daughter (who is 10 years his senior) attitude for doing what she is doing. He may be getting the training to be a professional chef, but I'm thinking that her experience counts for something also.  Thoughts?

[TicTac]

Your daughter is spot on.

 

In fact, I like to salt zucc's on the cutting board for 10-15 mins w/ coarse sea salt and then get rid of accumulated moisture prior to cooking - this also intensifies the flavour.