Most people enjoy cooking with garlic, though not many cooks use fresh garlic. While powder garlic brings flavor to a recipe, cooking with fresh garlic can add a wonderful spice to fresh vegetables, sauces, and meats that powder garlic loses in the dehydration process. Knowing how to cook with fresh garlic is always helpful as many minor mistakes can leave your amazing dinner in the garbage.
Getting the Garlic Out:
Perhaps one of the first things that stops people from using fresh garlic is not knowing how to get it out of the pesky skins! It's much easier than you'd think. First, break a single clove out of the whole garlic clump. When you have a single garlic clove free, take a wide kitchen knife and lay it on its side on top of the garlic clove. With your fingers out of the way, use your fist to "punch" the knife in order to smash the clove open. This breaks the outer casing of the clove, making it easier to peel it off the actual garlic clove!
What to use Garlic in:
Fresh garlic can dress up almost anything! Fresh garlic is wonderful smashed, diced, chopped, ground or minced. Add a little flavor to your mashed potatoes by adding whole garlic cloves to the salted boiling water. Saute' minced garlic in butter before adding mushrooms and wine for a rich, spicy addition to Sauteed Mushrooms. Rub fresh garlic on toasted bread, top with cream cheese, diced chives, and diced garlic for a zesty meal starter. Use fresh garlic in a recipe that calls for powder garlic for an added punch to the dish. Just follow the simple conversion:
1 clove of garlic= 1/8 tsp powder garlic.
Now You've got it...Just Watch Out!
Fresh garlic is one of the herbs' most potent forms. Use caution! If you are not used to a lot of garlic flavor, it's ok to use just a little bit...you can always add more later. Garlic can become quickly overpowering so less is more in garlic's fresh form. Also, the most important thing to remember when cooking with garlic is to heat slowly. Fresh garlic cooks quickly and burns even faster. If you think your recipe is going to blow your dinner guests out of the water, burnt garlic will send them running! Burnt garlic has a very bitter, metal taste and ruins a great meal quicker than anything. But don't be scared! Follow two rules: less is more, and low and slow. Following these two simple rules will make cooking with fresh garlic fun and successful! Keep your eye out for more recipes with garlic coming soon!
