Methods for peeling garlic

WaterPixie said:
I have been doing that only I start with a lighter smack/push. Doesn't work. Most of the peel stubbornly stays on. So I push. Sticky garlic juice everywhere. Even then some peel stays stuck on garlic.
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Sorry to say it does work. Three weeks ago I made some garlic & ginger chutney, and probably smashed 100 cloves with the flat of my knife. If the skin didn't come off immediately, then the clove got another smash. Getting garlic juice all over your fingers is part & parcel of cooking.
Your solution, perhaps, is to buy that ready minced garlic from Sainsbury's.
 
CookieMonster said:
sorry, I'm not a video studio.

you say you do not use an entire clove in one go . . . but request/want instructions on how to do five cloves.

there's something amiss. not playing this game.
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4 to 5 cloves isn't a bulb of garlic. What on earth. In Indian cooking we use lots of garlic. Same for Italian. And clove sizes vary substantially from even the same bulb. And obviously how many clover I use depends on what I'm making and the quantity of it too.
 
karadekoolaid said:
Sorry to say it does work. Three weeks ago I made some garlic & ginger chutney, and probably smashed 100 cloves with the flat of my knife. If the skin didn't come off immediately, then the clove got another smash. Getting garlic juice all over your fingers is part & parcel of cooking.
Your solution, perhaps, is to buy that ready minced garlic from Sainsbury's.
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I suspect I'm crushing the garlic too much which causes a lot of incredibly sticky juice to be released. But I also think the garlic I buy just has very stuck on skin.

I also suspect how old or fresh the garlic is, affects how easy or not slim is to remove. I'll do a Google search now....
 
CookieMonster said:
sorry, I'm not a video studio.

you say you do not use an entire clove in one go . . . but request/want instructions on how to do five cloves.

there's something amiss. not playing this game.
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I think his use of the term bulb refers to the head of garlic, not the cloves. He can correct him if I got wrong.
 
CookieMonster said:
you say you do not use an entire clove in one go . . . but request/want instructions on how to do five cloves.

there's something amiss. not playing this game.
Click to expand...

I think there is confusion going on between the terms 'bulb of garlic' and 'clove'. A bulb of garlic is the whole head of garlic. A clove is an individual part of the bulb. WaterPixie wrote that he didn't use the entire bulb in one go and requested a demo of how to do 4 or 5 cloves.



Bulb:

1727939363068.png


Clove:

1727939425554.png
 
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WaterPixie said:
I suspect I'm crushing the garlic too much which causes a lot of incredibly sticky juice to be released. But I also think the garlic I buy just has very stuck on skin.

I also suspect how old or fresh the garlic is, affects how easy or not slim is to remove. I'll do a Google search now....
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Would love to hear what you are cooking with the garlic WaterPixie. We have some fans of Indian cooking here (me included). Are you making Indian recipes? You mentioned Italian above.

I sometimes use the jars of ready made garlic paste (and ginger paste) in Indian recipes. The Indian brands are good value. The drawback is they have a vinegary taste, I find, due to the preserving methods. But it does mean no peeling or chopping!
 
I used to do the smash to peel or unpeeled in a garlic press. Also tried the shake in a container method.

Now that I have arthritis, it's a pain to do. Now I buy 1 pound bags of peeled garlic cloves. Then I chop them in my mini chopper. Use zip-top sandwich bags for storing the chopped garlic. Press the garlic into a flat, thin layer in the bags. Place bags in the freezer. When solid, just snap a piece off (as much or little as needed) and place the rest back in the freezer. I place the bags in an airtight container, so the freezer doesn't smell of garlic. Just chopped a pound. I got 4 sandwich bags of chopped garlic. That will last some months.

peeled-garlic.jpg
 
Here’s a better video of Pepin peeling some garlic:

View: https://youtu.be/j2dXWomOGhI?si=JhuV3Bdl35kZa5av


Watch the whole thing for fun, or zip to about the 2 minute mark to see a close-up of him smacking his garlic around.

Bonus - it’s kind of nice watching a much younger Pepin from time to time - he could be quite animated.
 
msmofet said:
I used to do the smash to peel or unpeeled in a garlic press. Also tried the shake in a container method.

Now that I have arthritis, it's a pain to do. Now I buy 1 pound bags of peeled garlic cloves. Then I chop them in my mini chopper. Use zip-top sandwich bags for storing the chopped garlic. Press the garlic into a flat, thin layer in the bags. Place bags in the freezer. When solid, just snap a piece off (as much or little as needed) and place the rest back in the freezer. I place the bags in an airtight container, so the freezer doesn't smell of garlic. Just chopped a pound. I got 4 sandwich bags of chopped garlic. That will last some months.

View attachment 119184
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Oh, I use mini chop to do a large - medium mince on the garlic. If I want it finer or a paste, I do the salt and mush with the side of the knife several times.
 
I always do it this way—the jar method: throw the garlic cloves in a jar, close the lid, and shake it. The skins will come right off!
 
fruitjuice said:
I always do it this way—the jar method: throw the garlic cloves in a jar, close the lid, and shake it. The skins will come right off!
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I’ve done that with two bowls, but only once, because Chef John (“…of FoodWishes.com”) said that it absolutely, positively does not work, and…sorry, CJ, but it works! :laugh:
 
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