Ask Roni: Mincing Garlic
Posted in: Ask Roni Q&A | 14 Comments
Hello!
I have been following your website and trying out some cooking recently and I have been having a blast. I never cook but I have found it to be fun! I apologize if this is a question you have already answered, but do you have a suggestion for a good tool to mince garlic? I have bought two and I haven’t been happy with either.
Thanks,
Julie
Hi Julie!
I’m so glad you are enjoying cooking! It really is a lot of fun! As for the garlic question, I use two things to mince garlic.
- A good old fashion knife! I use the technique outlined beautifully on eHow.
- My Garlic Press
. Stick the clove in, squeeze the bejesus out of it and viola! Minced garlic!
I’m not sure what you are are using now, but don’t go gadget crazy, all you really need is a good knife! (and even my ‘bad’ knife does a good job.)
Hope that helps!
-Roni
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I may be the only one to admit this but I seldomly buy fresh garlic. I buy a jar of the pre-minced stuff and use it in recipes instead. The fresh garlic goes bad too quickly for me to eat it all, I don’t have to smell like garlic hands, and I don’t have to dirty unnecessary dishes (no dishwasher here!).
So, if you aren’t morally opposed to the idea, I would recommend that. They normally sell it in the produce section near the regular garlic and onions.
Oh my gosh! This reminded me of something I saw Alton Brown do that I have been wanting to try.. forever! He has this little square slab of granite or something, puts the clove down on the counter/board, and literally, from a height, slams the granite slab down – and boom, your garlic is minced/pulverized, and you just scrape it off into your pan. I’m not sure it’s as practical as a press or a knife… but I still want to try it :P I guess it is relatively instantaneous, though – and would probably reduce sticky garlic fingers.. lol.
I love garlic and while I have used whole cloves and cut them myself, I buy the huge jar of minced garlic. I saw in a magazine the other day that 2t of minced garlic equals one clove. Getting the smell on my hands is not a problem, just rub a butter knife in your hands while washing them and the smell disapears. Heres to garlic!
Christie – You know I never buy them, I’m not sure why?!? My mom never did either but I can see how they can be a HUGE time saver! I just buy a clove of garlic ever week or two and honestly I tend to use them even when they are on the “way out” (a little dry and rubbery) LOL Thanks for reminding me of them, I tend to forget they have those jars!
I bought a garlic press from pampered chef about a year ago and I think it’s fantastic!
I have the Pampered Chef garlic press also, but after seeing your Oxo press, I wish I had that one. I like how the little thing that cleans out the skins is permanently attached. It would be easy to lose the Pampered Chef one.
I just realized my old website was showing, so I had to leave another msg to change it.
Ok, I love garlic and only use fresh. We use an Oxo garlic press if we need it minced. It is just easier. But as Roni said, a good knife works great too.
I usually buy pre-cleaned garlic and put it in the freezer that way i dont have to go through the hassel of cleaning it or being worried about it going bad.. Im not crazy about using a garlic press though i feel like the garlic disappears while its in there lol.. I just use a knife a chop like a lunatic. =]
My sister gave me a mini electric food processor/chopper which is wonderful if you have a large family as I do. I remove the skins from 6 or 7(or more)cloves and put them all in at once. A few seconds of processing and they are all minced perfectly. I scrape the minced garlic out with a slender rubber scraper and then I’m done in no time. It takes me much longer to mince that many with a knife, so before I had the processor I was resorting to the jar of minced garlic, but I don’t like the flavor as well.
By the way, the big piece of garlic you buy is a bulb and the many smaller pieces you separate from the bulb are the cloves.
I had a garlic press once, but it was made of molded plastic. It would flex when I tried to press a clove of garlic and hardly make a dent in it. A metal one would probably work much better.
I just wanted to chime in about the garlic press. I too use and love the Pampered Chef one but decided to try out the OXO one because of the attached cleaner – I hate it! Does not work half as good as the pampered chef one. So Bonnie, stick with the one you have and don’t waste the money – only half of the garlic comes out.
Thanks for the post, I couldn’t live without my garlic press:)
Thanks for the post, Roni! I use a butter knife and pound a clove a garlic on the counter – the clove usually pops right out. I either chop/mince it or use my zester to make a paste. The paste is good for garlic bread, shrimp scampi, etc. and it cleans really well. I have never had luck with a press – it always gets stuck and I feel like I spent more time cleaning it than using it ;-( You make it look easy.
I tried using the minced garlic in jars, but it smells and tastes very bad, so I just stopped buying it anymore, also it is not fresh. I use a knife to mice the garlic, i think that is best, never tried a garlic presser.