Entertainment For Lively Minds
Garlic
Posted by smithylad on 30 October 2009 - 1:21pm.
Has anyone here managed to slice garlic so thin it liquifies in the pan with just a little oil?
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yep
and I add a pinch of sugar to tomato sauce if it needs it and I never forget the Canolis!
Garlic
I've always thought this to be nonsense. No matter how thinly you slice garlic, it doesn't liquify, it just browns more quickly. Great script, though.
Absolutely right
I agree, Fraser. I've tried many times. It's an utter myth.
Not only that - it risks ruining the dish
If garlic frying in olive oil browns too quickly, it'll make the resulting sauce unpleasantly bitter. That's why when Spanish (and presumably Italian) cooks fry garlic they usually start with the onion, tossing in the garlic (in pieces about the size of old-style washing powder flakes) when the onion turns transparent, mixing well to stop it from burning.
It is true that in a slow-cook dish like this spaghetti sauce the onion and garlic will eventually disintegrate to thicken the sauce, but ou certainly don't need a razor blade for it to do that and it doesn't "dissolve in the pan".
Funny
Was thinking about that scene just the other night as I tried to unstick chunks of the stuff from my hands into the accident-in-a-pan I was preparing. Didn't have an old fashioned razor either. Shame.
Soup
I was making a bit of soup for my lunch, and got to thinking about it, as I always do when I'm chopping up garlic. I'm not sure it's possible, but would be happy to be persuaded otherwise.
Chris G - what's the secret?
No biggy
generally whack it with the flat of my chopping knife to break it up and then finely chop adding a pinch of salt helps to macerate it (or you can use pestle). As always use a sharp knife and add to the oil etc only a minute or two before you add the liquid so it can't burn ie not at the same time as the onion.
Garlic tastes stronger when chopped/mashed milder when boiled or roasted oh and fresh as opposed to dried!!
I've tried it
with a mandolin (slicer, not folkie instrument) at it's finest setting, and only succeeded in adding a couple of layers of skin from my fingertips to the mix.
plus you had
to wash the thing up! only use my mandolin when I make hot pot or if I need thin courgettes etc for Japanese salads
Never fail..
to think about this scene every time I slice the garlic with my big sharp knife. Never had any liquifying occur. I don't know such stuff, I just do garlic....
Me too, yet another gangsta slica.
And there's a thin veneer of forefinger in tonight's pasta sauce too, but don't let on to Ma Fox.
ever got garlic in a paper cut?
Ye gods, the pain. Don't talk to me about childbirth.
The Scorsese Family Cookbook
The bloke with the glasses doing the cooking is Scorsese's dad.
This scene was discussed in an interview Scorsese did many years ago for Vanity Fair or GQ or somewhere, and the subject of his mum's recipe for "meatballs with red sauce" came up. After the interview, he phoned his mum, got her to dictate the recipe, and then passed it on to the journalist. It was published with the interview as a sidebar.
I've been making it ever since. (Only two or three times a year though. Your arteries don't complain; they squeal like trodden-on kittens.)
And, thanks to the wonders of the Web, here it is (although in a slightly cardio-friendlier version - the original had hunks of fatty braising pork and chorizo-type red sausage in there too).
this is all very well
and terribly authentic but in our house (well my Brothers*) we swear by Dick Emery's recipe for summer pudding !
http://www.trunkrecords.com/kitchen/recipes.shtml
* he does have a copy of this!
Alliums.
Too much cellulose in for them to break down in the cooking process.
For those of us who are male, good evidence now shows that alliums (members of the onion family) contain fairly poky alkaloids which have a powerful inhibitive effect on prostate cancer. They develop when the veg is chopped or crushed. Leave them for ten minutes post-chop to allow for development before you chuck 'em in the pan.
Throwback
I crush mine mostly - with a Zyliss press. You don't have to peel the cloves (which is a blessing).
another classic gangster recipe
This one is a lot easier to follow. Clemenza at his finest (clip very quiet though)