Dégorger is the French technique of salting and draining a vegetable — classically aubergine, but also courgette or cucumber — to draw out its bitter juices before cooking. Slices are salted generously and left to stand, sometimes weighted, while osmosis pulls water and with it the bitter phenolic compounds to the surface; the beads of liquid are then rinsed or patted away. The treatment does three useful things at once: it removes bitterness, firms the flesh so the vegetable absorbs less oil in the pan, and seasons it from within. Modern aubergine varieties are bred to be less bitter than their ancestors, so the step is less essential than it once was, but it still improves texture in dishes like ratatouille and moussaka. The word itself comes from the French for disgorging — making the vegetable give up its juices.