NEVER Fry Your Zucchini Again — Try This Old ITALIAN Trick

You fry the zucchini and the pan fills with water. The slices go pale and floppy, they sit hissing in a puddle instead of browning, and they come out greasy on the outside and wet in the middle. That is not your fault. A zucchini is more than nine parts water, and a frying pan just boils it in its own juice. My mother Filomena had a tray of zucchini on her counter every day of every August in Bensonhurst, and she never fried a single slice of it. In this one I count down her ten rules, and every one starts with plain instructions before I explain anything. Picking small, firm zucchini, why the big ones are the wrong deal, the right thickness, salting and draining, pressing them dry, oiling the zucchini instead of the pan, the dry screaming-hot pan that replaces the frying pan, one layer and no touching, why the garlic never goes in the pan, and at number one, the old Neapolitan trick that makes them firm, full of flavor, and better every day for a week. I also settle whether zucchini really needs salting, and basil against mint. A spoonful of oil, a splash of vinegar, no frying pan. So tell me where you are cooking from, and what your family does with all the zucchini in August.