Let’s start by acknowledging Meathead’s Science of Garlic page.
I almost always use fresh garlic. It’s not hard to use once you get the knack, and I usually either mince it, or use a garlic press. To peel, the knife-smash method is effective, and has the added advantage of feeling brutal and badass. I think we all have a handle on fresh garlic; don’t burn it, and everything usually works out. As Jacques Pépin says, “I can never have enough garlic.”
I do like the convenience of garlic powder. I keep it cool and dry, in a dark cabinet, and it stays potent far longer than most dried seasonings. Garlic powder is great for making dips, because it blends throughout evenly, and doesn’t clump up like minced or pressed garlic can. It’s also good for when you taste that sauce and think, “Hmmm. It could use more garlic,” and you don’t feel like mashing up another clove (or don’t have any more). I don’t really have a preference among powder or granules or flakes, I think they all work the same.
There are the jars of minced garlic. I know some folks here use this, and use it effectively. I don’t like using it… but I would probably like whatever it was you made with it! It doesn’t work for me. But it solves a huge problem that fresh garlic has, and that is when you are half way through setting up a cook, and you reach for the fresh garlic and it’s all decayed and rotten!
I just found some fresh peeled garlic, in the produce section of my market, that I hope addresses this. It comes peeled and separated, but also in little vacuum sealed sacs inside of the package!
I just came home with it a couple hours ago, and haven’t had a chance to try it, but it looks like the equivalent of six or so heads of garlic, and was $4.99/lb. Well, bulk garlic is $4.49/lb now, in case you hadn’t noticed… I’m not looking to save 50¢ on garlic, I’m looking to not throw away half a head because it went bad. I’m looking for it to be there, and useable, when I need it. I’m thinking I could freeze some of the little sacs.
Meathead wrote about elephant garlic. I bought it once, thinking it was garlic, but it isn’t. I don’t know what it is, really, or where it belongs. I guess I could Google it. If I cared, that is.
My sister gifted me a huge container of black garlic. Like a couple pounds of it. I used it once, and promised to try it in a few different things and report here on it. Well, it drifted to the back of the spice and seasonings cabinet and hasn’t come back out. It’s like garlic flavored black tar hashish, except you don’t get high from it. Well not that way, anyhow.
I don’t have any garlic salt laying around anywhere. I figure that’s something that I can make with salt and garlic powder, so why spend the $$ and use up the slot in the spice rack?
Anyhow, I love the stuff. Life is just that much better because of garlic.
I almost always use fresh garlic. It’s not hard to use once you get the knack, and I usually either mince it, or use a garlic press. To peel, the knife-smash method is effective, and has the added advantage of feeling brutal and badass. I think we all have a handle on fresh garlic; don’t burn it, and everything usually works out. As Jacques Pépin says, “I can never have enough garlic.”
I do like the convenience of garlic powder. I keep it cool and dry, in a dark cabinet, and it stays potent far longer than most dried seasonings. Garlic powder is great for making dips, because it blends throughout evenly, and doesn’t clump up like minced or pressed garlic can. It’s also good for when you taste that sauce and think, “Hmmm. It could use more garlic,” and you don’t feel like mashing up another clove (or don’t have any more). I don’t really have a preference among powder or granules or flakes, I think they all work the same.
There are the jars of minced garlic. I know some folks here use this, and use it effectively. I don’t like using it… but I would probably like whatever it was you made with it! It doesn’t work for me. But it solves a huge problem that fresh garlic has, and that is when you are half way through setting up a cook, and you reach for the fresh garlic and it’s all decayed and rotten!
I just found some fresh peeled garlic, in the produce section of my market, that I hope addresses this. It comes peeled and separated, but also in little vacuum sealed sacs inside of the package!
I just came home with it a couple hours ago, and haven’t had a chance to try it, but it looks like the equivalent of six or so heads of garlic, and was $4.99/lb. Well, bulk garlic is $4.49/lb now, in case you hadn’t noticed… I’m not looking to save 50¢ on garlic, I’m looking to not throw away half a head because it went bad. I’m looking for it to be there, and useable, when I need it. I’m thinking I could freeze some of the little sacs.
Meathead wrote about elephant garlic. I bought it once, thinking it was garlic, but it isn’t. I don’t know what it is, really, or where it belongs. I guess I could Google it. If I cared, that is.
My sister gifted me a huge container of black garlic. Like a couple pounds of it. I used it once, and promised to try it in a few different things and report here on it. Well, it drifted to the back of the spice and seasonings cabinet and hasn’t come back out. It’s like garlic flavored black tar hashish, except you don’t get high from it. Well not that way, anyhow.
I don’t have any garlic salt laying around anywhere. I figure that’s something that I can make with salt and garlic powder, so why spend the $$ and use up the slot in the spice rack?
Anyhow, I love the stuff. Life is just that much better because of garlic.
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