I adore garlic. Simply love the stuff. I treat it as a vegetable in its own right, like potatoes and tomatoes and aubergines (all of which go admirably with the delightful little bulb).
One thing about garlic is that if you eat a lot of it regularly, you are much much less likely to er, offend other people than, say, the occasional eater of restaurant Garlic Prawns. Also, garlic loses its well-known power and pungency - but none of its flavour and guts - with long cooking, so while six or more cloves in a big beef stew, or even a whole head in a lamb roast might seem a trifle extravagant, after long, dead slow cooking the flavour won't only be of garlic as you might expect.
Also, its good for colds and the immune system in general - at least, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it. So don't be afraid ...
Mincing/pureeing
In many of my soups and noodly recipes I use minced or pureed garlic, so I get all the flavour but no bits (when I want bits I use another method). Minced garlic in jars in the supermarket is vile and horrible, and that's just the concept let alone the flavour. Don't use it. Also, don't use a garlic crusher. They're wasteful and useless.
What you need: a good chef's knife and a little sea salt (you know what I mean, little crystals as opposed to fine table salt)
How to: To peel the garlic (and this goes for all garlic preparation), lay the clove on one of it's flat (well, flatter) sides on a cutting board, place the chef's knife flat (horizontal or parallel to the board) over it, and bring your fist down with some force on to the knife where it covers the clove. This crushes the clove a little, but most importantly it makes the otherwise tenacious garlic skin give way and makes it easier to peel off. Sometimes (depending on the type of garlic - I prefer the purplish coloured rather than the large white type for this reason) the skin will be easier to peel off. Then slice off the woody end of the clove.
(***Breaking News*** I've just discovered that if you cut off the little woody end bit of the clove first, after belting it but before peeling, the skin will slide off all of itself so all you need to do is flick the skin away with the point of your knife ... Amazing! I suppose everyone knows this, and I'm just a slow learner. Ah well.)
Okay, mincing, First, slice clove lengthwise into three or four, then cross-wise in fine slices, so its in small bits. Then, keeping the garlic all together into a close little mound, place your chef's knife on the chopping board thus; the point touching the board and the knife at a slight angle. Holding the knife's handle with your forefinger on the top of the blade for control and keeping the garlic bits close together in a heap at all times, chop down, swivel, chop down again, swivel .... You will get good and fast at this easier way of chopping ingredients finely - keeping the knife point on the board and swivelling for the next chop rather than lifting the knife right off the board and placing it for the next slice.
(Sorry that this is so word-y - hopefully not impenetrably so - but it is so very difficult to tell rather than show)
Once the garlic is finely chopped - but not yet to a paste - sprinkle the heap with a little sea salt. This helps the pureeing/grinding process, adds more friction and grit, I guess. This time, hold the knife (again with the point remaining still on the board), but with the blade parallel to and very close to the surface. The action this time is crush and grind the garlic with the flat of the knife, then swivel (again) as you squish the garlic. The heap will spread out, which is good, more surface area, but every now and again scrape the garlic back into a heap and start over. Keep going until you have a paste. It takes practice to get both the speed and degree of swivel/grind (sounds kinda sexy, don't it?) but is very effective once you get the hang of it (I was really slow and clumsy at first but now I can reduce a bulb of garlic to a paste in a couple of minutes).
Slicing
This is when you want bits of garlic visible in your dish. Texture and all that. I've included both finely dicing as well as slicing here, because its really the same thing.
Peel garlic (as above) and cut of woody end. Using tip of chef's knife (I tend to use my chef knives for everything - forget vegetable/paring/utility knives, my Mundial 8" or 6" does the lot) with hand around handle and forefinger on top of blade for control, slice garlic very finely lengthwise. You'll end up with a number of cross-sections, and these can be sliced lengthwise again for slivers if wanted. Then if you want the finely diced effect, slice across the slivers so you have teensy weensy diced up bits of garlic.
Roasting
Oh, mmmmmmm. Whether roasting the whole bulb, or just cloves (best to keep whole rather than slicing or dicing otherwise they'll "caramelise" ie burn), the result is deliciously soft and gooey with a tang that goes fabulously with roasted meat or vegetables.
There are such creatures as "garlic roasters" but I've never met one, and am not sure if I'd really appreciate it. I just wrap the entire bulb in a few layers of tinfoil, put in the oven when I'm roasting said meat and vegetables, and after about 45 minutes I'll take the package out, unwrap it (using tongs or forks or whatever because obviously it'll be too damn hot - maybe that's the advantage of garlic roasters?), detach the cloves and serve.
What one does is; hold the wider end of the clove (where the woody bit is) with a fork or corn holder, take your table knife and, starting at the back end, press and scrape out the garlic goo onto your plate. I love this with roast beef instead of horseradish sauce, or even spread on toast with a hearty soup. Yes it IS very very garlicky but if the person you are likely to be sharing close personal space with that evening is also eating garlic in this way, it's not a problem.
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One day I'm going to try that renowned recipe of roast chicken stuffed with 40 cloves of garlic - sounds like my kind of gig.