The Garlic Advice Thread

[riotgrrl]

I am confused and looking for advice from Stubbies.

It's garlic.

I love garlic. I cook with it a lot.

But:

1 - Do you add it to the oil early on to flavour the oil or, by doing that, do you burn it so badly it has no flavour?

and

2 - Should you slice it to get the best flavour by keeping the juices in, or crush it with your garlic press to get the oils out?

There seem to be several, contradictory orthodoxies about how best to cook with garlic, and I seek advice.

[Weyland]

Mar 4, 2010 18:16:46 GMT @riotgrrl said:

I am confused and looking for advice from Stubbies.

It's garlic.

I love garlic. I cook with it a lot.

But:

1 - Do you add it to the oil early on to flavour the oil or, by doing that, do you burn it so badly it has no flavour?

and

2 - Should you slice it to get the best flavour by keeping the juices in, or crush it with your garlic press to get the oils out?

There seem to be several, contradictory orthodoxies about how best to cook with garlic, and I seek advice.

For what it's worth, I never crush garlic -- always slice it or add it whole. And I never fry it alone, almost always along with onions. But I usually just chuck it in raw in any case.

I eat tons of the stuff, by the way.

[everso]

I usually crush garlic but after reading this I think I might chop:


Garlic contains volatile oils that are released when it's crushed or pressed. As garlic's cell walls are smashed, its oils react with its natural enzymes, and the aroma and flavour become very strong. If used immediately in raw preparations, the pungent pulp and extracted juices from pressed or pureed garlic give your dish a pronounced spicy flavour. Unfortunately, these oils don't last but turn rancid quickly and linger on hands, breath, and cutting surfaces. Pressed garlic doesn't hold up well when heated, either. It turns bitter and quickly loses its characteristic garlic flavour. I would advise against using a garlic press for these reasons. Plus, they are difficult to clean.

When you mince or chop garlic, the oils aren't violently forced out but are left to slowly season your food as its cooks. Also, the enzymes that make garlic pungent are destroyed by heat, so the garlic flavor is more apt to mellow as it cooks.

In general, the longer the cooking time, the larger you can leave the pieces of garlic. Finely minced garlic may also be used in vinaigrettes and salsas where the high acidity of the food will help break down the garlic and bring out its flavours.

The more aggressively garlic is handled, the more aggressive and short-lived its flavour.

Thanks for asking Riot. I've learned something tonight.

[Patrick]

I crush it sometimes, but mainly do it with one of those double handed roundy shaped knives on a roundy shaped board. If I want to flavour some oil I'll just fry the garlic in for a bit and then just spoon it out before it burns.

[riotgrrl]

On the episode of Sex and the City on Fiver last night Mr Big was cooking, and he said (by way of a metaphor re. marriage);

"You have to brown the garlic before you add the onions."

Brown garlic? Burnt?

[trubble]

I'm not married but I just crush the garlic and add it to the onions because that way the oil isn't too hot - and it's when it's too hot that it burns. That's sort of a metaphor for nasty infections.

[trubble]

Except when I'm doing stir-frys. Then I add it and the ginger at the same time and just be very careful. That's a metaphor for genetic modification?

[Weyland]

Mar 4, 2010 23:16:31 GMT Patrick said:

one of those double handed roundy shaped knives on a roundy shaped board

Brings a whole new flavour to the phrase Mystery Object.

Please tell us more, Patrick.

[betty]

i think he must be referring to a mezza luna



mr bets gave me one a few years ago....and i don't think we ever use it.

give garlic a bit of a bash with the flat of a knife.

[Weyland]

Mar 5, 2010 10:13:42 GMT betty said:

i think he must be referring to a mezza luna

far-horizons.biz/catalog/images/38978.jpg

mr bets gave me one a few years ago....and i don't think we ever use it.

Thank you, Betty. Don't think I have a use for one of those.

Break over -- now get back to PhotoFit and get on with the Mystery Object analysis.

[Patrick]

Mine gets used for garlic and spring onions usually, It's as good as any way to finely chop stuff without destroying it.

[Weyland]

Mar 5, 2010 10:35:35 GMT Patrick said:

Mine gets used for garlic and spring onions usually, It's as good as any way to finely chop stuff without destroying it.

It's a cutting tool? Betty's pic looks like a crusher.

[riotgrrl]

But is there a consensus emerging that I should throw out my garlic press thing that minces the garlic (and is hard to clean)?

Are we all saying that this is not the correct way to handle garlic?

[Deleted]

I LIKE GARLIC ON EVERYTHIUNKKKKKK|! LOVE IT! I TRY N CHOP IT WITH A PIDDLY LITTLE KNIFE. GARLIC CRUSHERS ALWAYS GO MESSY WHEN I USE THEM.

[swl]

Are you all fitooshes? This is how you use garlic

[riotgrrl]

I suspect that life outwith gaol might be a bit too short to shave garlic . . .

[jean]

One of the best things to do woth garlic is to roast the whole head, and then squeeze out the soft pulp from each clove when it's done.

[riotgrrl]

Mar 5, 2010 17:04:04 GMT jean said:

One of the best things to do woth garlic is to roast the whole head, and then squeeze out the soft pulp from each clove when it's done.

Explain more.

Roast how?

Squeeze how?

[riotgrrl]

P.S. Jean

'The whole head'

Do you take the skin off first or what? I tend to take out 3 or 4 segments of the bulb at a time for use. No?

[everso]

See this is what I like about this board. We get more posts on a thread about garlic than a thread about muslims.

;D