garlic presses: indispensable kitchen implement or a tool of the devil?

[pokerfan]

I had no idea they were so controversial...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic_press

Garlic crushed by a press is generally believed to have a different flavor from minced garlic; since more cell walls are broken, more of garlic's strong flavor compounds are liberated. A few sources prefer the flavor of pressed garlic. Raw-foods chef Renée Underkoffler says "a good garlic press makes dealing with garlic a clean pleasure. Pressed garlic has a lighter, more delicate flavor than minced garlic because it excludes the bitter center stem."<2> The magazine Cook's Illustrated says "a good garlic press can break down cloves more finely and evenly than an average cook using a knife, which means better distribution of garlic flavor throughout any given dish."

On the other hand, some chefs say garlic crushed in a press has an inferior flavor compared to other forms of garlic. For instance, chef Anthony Bourdain calls garlic presses "abominations" and advises "don't put it through a press. I don't know what that junk is that squeezes out of the end of those things, but it ain't garlic." The British cookery writer Elizabeth David once wrote an essay titled 'Garlic Presses are Utterly Useless'; Alton Brown has expressed suspicion about them on account of their having only one function (being 'unitask').

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Tool of the devil. I hate garlic.

[GoCubsGo]

2. I'm kind of with Alton Brown on this one...

I usually just smash the cloves of garlic with a knife, and then mince it. It might take a little extra effort, but on the other hand, it's really hard to clean a garlic press. There are always little bit of garlic that get stuck and dried up on the holes.

[pokerfan]

3. Yeah, pretty much what I think

I was thinking about getting a press but don't really see the need, especially after watching this:

http://youtu.be/hOTVQIBQDOI

[NYC_SKP]

4. I am with Bourdain on this. A good chef uses a heavy cleaver to smash it, right?

I mean it would seem that this is a tool for people too dense to know how to smash or dice a clove of garlic.

[pokerfan]

5. or even a chef's knife

take a look at the video I found.

[REP]

6. Minced, crushed and pressed all have their place

It really depends upon what I am cooking and what texture/flavor is desired.

[fishwax]

7. I have one, but don't always use it

It depends on what I'm cooking and what kind of mood I'm in. Sometimes I even use (gasp) garlic from a jar, because I keep some in the fridge for occasions when I don't have fresh garlic. If I were doing something like garlic bread I would mince the garlic, and if I'm cutting something else I'll usually mince it since I'm going to have to wash a knife and cutting board anyway. But sometimes when I'm cutting garlic to season some olive oil and I'm not cutting other things up I'll use the garlic press because it saves a bit of time/hassle.

It's true that it's a unitasker, but I don't care. It isn't as though it takes up a ton of space.

[FloridaJudy]

8. I just smash the cloves

With the base of my hand, like Jackie Chan - whack! Or else buy the minced garlic that comes in small jars. Garlic presses are a bitch to clean: more trouble than they're worth.

[JitterbugPerfume]

9. I love garlic , but a garlic press is the DEVILS invention

[fegi052li]

15. couldn't agree more

I just use a regular knife.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

10. I prefer the press because..

...as you can see in the photo above, you get relatively uniform pieces (which I guess you could also get by smashing and chopping), and cleaning it is never a problem for me.

Depending on how you use the garlic, you have to be somewhat careful with it. For marinara sauce, I get the olive oil just to the point where it's warm (you can just start to see little ripples on the surface). Then I put the garlic in, but you have to stir it constantly, adding your other ingredients the minute it becomes "golden" (NOT brown). Once you hit brown it will go to black very quickly and you'll have bitter garlic.

There's a well-known local Italian restaurant with 4 locations across Silicon Valley, and their marinara sauce has one defining taste: burnt garlic. When you order a meat / poultry entree, it usually comes with a small side of angel hair with marinara. I ALWAYS get a Caesar Salad substitution.

:-)

[trackfan]

11. It's good for incorporating garlic into a smooth sauce. n/t

[kentauros]

12. Smash and mince like everyone else has said.

But if you want that "pressed" texture, try this technique (I use a Chinese vegetable cleaver as my main knife, so it has a shallower curve to the blade.)

With the minced garlic in a pile press the flat of the knife against the garlic and drag across the cutting board, with your free hand pressing on the other side of the knife to really mash the minced garlic into mush. You might have to do that a few times, but it works great with my knife. I don't know how well it would work with a standard chef's knife.

And again, all you have to clean is the knife and the cutting board, and not store yet another gadget :)

[pokerfan]

14. check out the video in post #3

He uses a chef's knife but with the handle extending over the edge of both the cutting board and counter allowing him to rocker the blade his hands but allowing the hand holding the handle to dip below the level of the board. It's actually pretty cool and most of all, fast. I would try it but then I would just wind up having to wash all the blood off the minced garlic. :)

[kentauros]

22. I watched it, and that's certainly one way,

especially if you're very good with a chef's knife. While I have one, I don't use it very often (partly because the plastic handle of my Wusthof broke some years back.) My vegetable cleaver is my primary knife, and I love it! Here's a video of Chinese chef Yan using his similar cleaver. Mine looks almost the same, minus that knobby end on the handle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRrsifp2FpA

I don't "mince" garlic" like that, but I do use it in all the other ways he demonstrated. The video in post #3 does show him pressing with the flat of the blade, but it looks like he's hardly pressing at all. I press hard enough to practically juice the minced garlic.

And if you want to try the rocking method, here's one that might look safer for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZqP0D130HA

[pokerfan]

24. Thanks

does look safer...

[Ahpook]

13. I had one

It seemed to have been lost. More likely tossed


And I am actually a boyfriend that loves to cook, goshdarnit :)

[Rhiannon12866]

16. I had no idea, either! Interesting discussion, I've done both, mostly mince it,

But I never much thought about the difference. Now I will! Thanks! :think: :hi:

[csziggy]

17. I have a garlic press but I more often mince my garlic with a knife

My garlic press came from IKEA and is the best one I have ever owned. It has three hinged parts - the two main ones with handles and the part with holes that the garlic is pressed through. Having that last as a separate hinged part is great. I can swing it out, scrape out the solid bits of garlic to either discard or to mince and add to the pressed garlic. AND having it come out like that makes it so much easier to thoroughly clean.

The best part about the IKEA garlic press is that it was cheap so I didn't spend a lot on a device I don't use regularly.

[blogslut]

18. When I was young

I used to have a blast squeezing chunks of Velveeta through my mom's garlic press. She probably despised me for it.

It made for awesome squiggly strings of processed cheese food.

[TreasonousBastard]

19. I never listen to anything Bourdain has to say because...

he has this genetic problem of not being able to open his mouth without complaining about something. There are times when you want a lot of smashed and mashed garlic and doing it on a board is just too messy. Just because chefs pay thousands of dollars going to school to learn fancy ways to chop tiny pieces of garlic and onions doesn't mean I have to do that for a potluck.

As to garlic presses being "unitaskers"-- when I bought 5 pounds of cherries earlier this year I found a combo cherry/olive pitter and garlic press for around 5 bucks. It works well enough at both tasks.

[Brickbat]

20. I have never, ever gotten garlic to come out like Play-Doh like that from a garlic press. I either

smash and mince, or use one a microplane.

[BrendaBrick]

21. I use mine

to hit the lid of a jar I can't open.

[Duer 157099]

23. Hah! Me too.

Not a unitasker, at least a duotasker.

[EFerrari]

25. Mine is my nut chopper. I put nuts in a freezer bag and pound on them.

Garlic I just mash with the nearest heavier object, usually a coffee cup.