Garlic, with its spicy intensity and earthy aroma, is used in many traditional Greek recipes. But did you know that when we use it in a cooked dish, the intensity varies depending on how we cut it?
Garlic contains allicin, which has an antimicrobial and fungicidal effect and gives it its characteristic aroma. Interestingly, the more you chop or mash it, the more allicin is produced.
Flavourful intensities and secrets
If you want a subtle presence of the vegetable in your recipe, it is better to use whole cloves. Italians often very lightly flavour oil by sauteing entire cloves of garlic until they take colour before discarding them. In this way, the olive oil will transmit the distinctive taste of garlic to the rest of the ingredients.
If you want a bit more intensity, slice the garlic thinly or thickly. The next step is to cut the slices vertically so that it is finely diced.
If you want to remove the dry skin from the cloves easily, one way is to cut the cloves in half. This makes it much easier to remove.
However, you only achieve the absolute intensity of garlic when you mash it, either in a mortar, as it was traditionally done, or in manual mashers, a grater, or a multimixer.
In fact, one day, when you have time, you can mash a larger amount and place it in a well-closed jar with olive oil in the refrigerator.
It can stay there for several days and be ready for the next use.
So the more we cut the garlic to the pulp, the more allicin is produced and the more flavour and aromatic intensity it will give our food.
Dimitris Papazimouris is a columnist for Cantina. Translated by Paul Antonopoulos.
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