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"
How
does the way it is prepared affect garlic's flavor?
"
Dear
Anne and Sue,
What difference in flavor, if any, between mincing garlic
(with a press) and chopping (either fine or chunky)
with a knife. I am lazy and always press garlic however
am wondering if there are times when chopped garlic
is preferable. Miss your old web site. Thank you.
— Janice
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Dear Janice,
We're pleased you've found our new location. As this site
grows, we're sure it will become just as valuable to keen
cooks as our former site‹so please keep checking in!
Your question on the differences in the flavor of garlic
is an interesting one, for the ways this ancient bulb
is handled in cooking can either emphasize or mellow its
pungency. A head of unpeeled garlic is odorless because
its flavoring compounds and the enzyme that triggers their
release are held separately within the clove.
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All cooking techniques that break the cell walls, whether
dicing, pressing, chopping or mincing, throw the chemical
alliin and the enzyme alliinase together, liberating garlic's
distinctive flavor and aroma. The more cells that are
broken, the more assertive garlic becomes. So you can
control the intensity of flavor by how finely you chop
the garlic.
However, cooking is also a factor that comes into play.
Slow cooking mellows garlic's intensity, as the sulfur
compounds underlying its flavors vaporize in the heat.
That's why a whole head of garlic gently baked is mellow,
rich, and not at all overpowering, while a clove that's
peeled, minced, and used raw adds a wallop of flavor to
a Cesar salad dressing.
The cook is in command here, so the bottom line is that
whether you press, mince, or slice garlic, and how long
you cook it, determines its punch in cooking. It was nice
to hear from you.
Thanks for finding us.
Anne and Sue
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