the most beautiful flavor enhancer: garlic

[selinker]

What: The many varieties of the onion species Allium sativum, otherwise known as garlic.

Comments

[coendou]

It's also a very good flea repellent for dogs. You might read that it's poisonous, but garlic has an extremely low concentration of the dangerous chemical (onions have a much higher concentration and can be dangerous to dogs) - even a small dog would have to eat a few entire heads before they got sick from it. A dash of garlic powder on their food each day does, however, give them even worse doggie breath than usual. X^P

[selinker]

I wonder if that's why garlic is supposedly apotropaic in regards vampires. If tiny bloodsuckers won't bite a being with garlic in its veins, maybe human-sized bloodsuckers won't either.

[phoenixsinger]

I have a 32oz jar of minced garlic in my fridge as we speak. I use it almost every time I cook. Couldn't imagine not having it in my kitchen. Sometimes, I open the jar just to smell it.

Happiness is having a spouse that loves garlic as much, if not more, than I do.

[selinker]

It is important to have a garlic-equal household.

There's a story I tell all the time of a girl in high school who decided to teach herself how to cook. She wanted to make tomato sauce for pasta. So she put in a clove of garlic. You know, the thing you buy in the store. She just peeled that "clove" and threw it in. And then wondered aloud why it was inedible.

This was not the worst thing she ever did involving cooking, but I'll save that for another day.

[seankreynolds]

I did that once for homemade pizza... chopped up a whole "clove." The pizza was NOT inedible, though, it was damn burny good! Only after a slice did Willow ask, "how much garlic did you put on this?," to which I responded "one clove," so she asked, "what do you think a 'clove' is?" Oops!

Still, good pizza. :)

[selinker]

The borderline between "inedible" and "awesome" is a very thin one.

[aquarian_days]

I agree with you entirely. I can never understand recipes that call for ONE clove of garlic, or even HALF a clove of garlic. What is the point of that? My default reaction is always to multiply any amount of garlic asked for in a recipe by 4x.

I've been to the Gilroy Garlic Festival and think it's a lot of fun. If you're ever in California around that time of the year (I think it's held on/near Labor Day), you should definitely try and go! (Don't know if it's worth a plane ticket to go just for that, however.)

[selinker]

It's in July. We went through Gilroy on a day that wasn't the Garlic Festival, and the place was so pungent we could smell it from the train. So I expect that during the festival itself, it's mighty close to heaven.

I don't always increase the amount of garlic in a recipe, because subtler flavors are easily overwhelmed by a massive uptick in garlic flavor. Instead, I try to start with recipes that contain a lot of garlic.

[seankreynolds]

Well done, sir. :)

[selinker]

Next time, Sean, we will bring you to the garlic festival, regardless of its political persuasion.

[thedan]

Correct answer.

[selinker]

That reminds me: I've still gotta try that Rhode Island-style calamari. That sounds like a fine use for garlic.

[thedan]

Hell yes. If you're looking for an opportunity without visiting the Ocean State, the Legal Sea Foods menu offers it at all locations, I think. (Still nowhere near your neck of the woods, but if you happen to find yourself in Boston, Atlanta, or DC...)