There is nothing better than a side dish that enhances the flavor of a good juicy hamburger or a good steak . Between the kitchen key ingredients that enhance meat flavor there is vinegar. Ancient Romans used vinegar for all sort of purposes and naturally to store foods and Roman soldiers used to bring vinegar with them to be diluted in water with mint leaves to produce a drink. My husband TQ like a Roman Centurion likes food with strong taste, for him being a Marine nothing is too strong. What follows is one of his favorite side dish.

Here is a typical Italian Calabrese   recipe for people that love vinegar and eggplants.

Remove both ends of eggplants and peel it.  Then cut slices thin and long to produce layers to be covered in gross salt.  Ensure that all sites of the eggplant are covered by salt, let it rest for few hours. Squeeze the juices away. Remove the salt and cover eggplants slices with vinegar for two hours (or overnight for stronger vinegar taste). Squeeze them again, remove the vinegar and in an appropriate sterile glass container form layers with eggplant slices, add each time few mint leaves some fennel seeds and red chilly peppers, like lasagna layers. Cover it all with extra virgin olive oil and press it. This side dish is to be eaten within a month, please ensure that eggplants are always covered with extra virgin olive oil.