#peelinggarlic

[crothersy1]

The things that kids find amusing... #peelinggarlic #fun?? (For the record, I did not ask them to do that, they saw the heads of garlic and asked me if they could have them.) #sillysinghmamma #yoderscurryhouse https://www.instagram.com/p/B0hnz3Zn9V8/?igshid=1plrc1zhxmk0q

[ioheazy]

This is how we party on a Friday night #PeelingGarlic (at Guttenberg, New Jersey) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz1aPH0JcDVNqJeQTx0Tt7pvl153-ThOc3_V3E0/?igshid=me7dvnhv440f

[ricethief-blog]

Tip of the day: Peeling Garlic

Everyone loves garlic. 

Valkosipuli in Finnish, Bawang in Filipino, 마늘 (Maneul) in Korean. They all mean the same thing, Garlic. Adding garlic to the food that you make automatically levels up the entire dish: taste-wise and smell-wise. You can add it whole, chopped, sliced, mashed, crisped, roasted, pan-fried, and sometimes, even raw. Each cooking method you apply to garlic would always leave you surprised because each method will produce different flavor dimensions. 

But, even if we would like to always use garlic in the food we create, buying whole garlic oftentimes make us frustrated. How so? The hardest part in dealing with garlic is getting through the numerous thin paper-like skin and the tough first layer of skin before getting to the garlic cloves. In my years of being a chef, I never really found any easy way to peel garlic especially when you want the garlic cloves as whole and unblemished as possible. It takes patience, a sharp paring knife and lots of practice to peel whole garlic cloves perfectly. 

However! 

My fiance, who is also a chef, showed me an easier way (and maybe the easiest way) to peel garlic cloves. It takes less than 2 minutes to peel garlic cloves! First, you remove all the paper-like skin of the garlic. When you reach the tough layer that covers the garlic cloves, do not peel them. Leave them as is and place all your unpeeled garlic cloves in a bowl. The secret? Pop the bowl of garlic cloves in the microwave for 20-30 seconds (although 20 seconds work best for me). After that, gently squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skin. And, they just slip out of their skins so easily! Just don't apply so much pressure while squeezing or else you will end up with broken pieces of garlic. Microwaving it for a bit also makes the garlic a little bit sweeter, which makes it even better for cooking. 

So, the next time you go to grocery and the market, do not hesitate to buy whole garlic instead of the ready-peeled variety. :)