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What’s a cheap purchase that’s completely changed your life? (lemmy.world)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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[–] 19 points 9 months ago (16 children)

A garlic press. I avoided them for years because of a mixture of guidance saying it's just as easy to chop it or it tastes worse from a press. I don't have the tastebuds to notice it being any worse and it's certainly a lot easier than chopping since you don't even have to peel it.

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  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago

    The "tastes worse from a press" is entirely dependent on the material of the press you're using. Garlic reacts with stainless steel, hence those stainless steel "soap bars" they make to remove garlic smell from your hands. I got a zinc press for this exact reason.

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago (4 children)

    How you prep garlic depends on what you are doing with it, or what the recipe calls for.

    What it comes down to, the more garlic flavor you want out of a clove, then the more you need to damage the garlic's cellular walls.

    So this means if you want some garlic flavor, then a rough chop would be fine. If you want a good amount of flavor, then mincing is necessary. If you want a metric f#$k ton of garlic flavor then you run it through a press.

    Why wouldn't you just use fewer garlic cloves and just use the press all the time? There are many reasons, but mainly because a pressed clove may be too over powering for the recipe. Also, if you are doing a slow cook, then larger pieces of garlic will enfuse the recipe better over the longer cook time than pressed garlic.

    I hope the above makes sense. On the surface it appears that it's just better to press garlic cloves and just adjust the amount you put in the recipe. However, there are real differences to the final product based upon how the garlic is prepped and added to the recipe.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    You're right. But it has never been an issue in my house nor ever someone ever composed a phrase conveying the feeling that there was too much garlic on the food.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Oh, we have at my house and it was completely my fault.

    I was making marinara sauce in bulk for a specific recipe that we make often. At the last minute I decided to press the garlic, but not reduce the amount and the results were not pleasing. It was way too much and none of us are vampires.

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  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Oh man, a great hack is to microwave your garlic for about 5 seconds and the peel comes right off.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    The more you smoosh garlic, the more allions exposed and the more intense the flavour. That's how you can range from whole roasted = mild to minced = asshole burning.

    So a chopper is not a replacement for a press or a grater and vice-versa

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