Ahhh... Garlic... Look at it. It's like a seed from the gods, isn't it. So much potential, so much flavour. Bust open the head, and pull out a clove or two, I'm going to show you how to get the most out of your garlic.
Place the side of a wide knife over the top of the clove, and give the top of the knife a sharp blow with the heel of your palm.
Pull the peel off and slice them to about 2-3 mms wide.
Turn them around, and mince them finely, and salt the garlic with a coarse grind.
Now take the side of your blade and pull it across the garlic in sections, crushing it down into the board. You should feel the salt grinding the garlic through your knife.
By the end of it, the garlic should look like this:
Now you can use it like this in stirfrys, sauces, whatever. The crushing activates an enzyme in the garlic that gives it a distictive taste, and added garlicky goodness.
If you have fresh or dried herbs, chop them up, and press them into the garlic, too. Works great for marinades, curries, stirfries, anything slow cooked. You can do this for salad dressings, but if the fresh garlic seems too harsh, let it sit in the acid of your dressing for at least a day or two to make it more mellow. Anytime a recipe calls for a clove of garlic, if you can take the time to do this, it will always taste better. Always.
I recommend chopping using your method, adding a bit of water and freezing them in ice cube trays. You can remove them from the trays and store the garlic cubes in the freezer in a freezer bag.
ReplyDeleteAlso works great with ginger.
What advantage is there in this method, over the use of a garlic press?
ReplyDeleteA garlic press is a specialized piece of equipment that may not be available if you're away from your kitchen. I realize that that's an edge case, as how often are you called upon to cook somewhere else? Also, they can be wicked hard to clean, and depending on the design, they can be difficult to use, in terms of sheer force. Third, you kind of feel badass using the side of your knife like that, and can cut up herbs into it really easily.
DeleteAnd, of course, Cooking Time is supposed to be about techniques that develop basic kitchen skills (as opposed to using gadgets that might make certain tasks easier, even though there are some good ones out there).