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How to get great garlic taste in Linguine?

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Matthiasa said:
While buying it pre-minced is a bit questionable, buying it pre-pealed minimally affects taste and saves a lot of time if using a lot of garlic. Noting that it will need to be stored differently and will probably not store as long.
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I find that peeling garlic takes little to no effort. smash it first, as one should, peels fall off as if they were never there. I used to think the way you do, but after processing heads of garlic at a time over the years, I learned that the insignificant time savings isn't worth the relative quality difference--also, it's far cheaper to just buy fresh garlic.

When I go to the store, I look at how much I am paying someone simply to prepare something that I can quickly and easily prepare myself. It's kinda staggering the amount of money people waste when they think they are saving time, when it really just takes a bit of practice to see that time savings evaporate. Plus, you have more money to buy more and better stuff!
 
zinfamous said:
well, for starters, "the only way to use garlic" never beings with buying a tub of pre-minced garlic. 😉
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this is probably the only good use of that minced costco stuff:

o.jpg
 
zinfamous said:
you got packaged minced garlic, this is why you fail. Garlic taste is highly dependent on how you prepare it: smash it or just dice it? sautee in olive oil or butter, and at what temperature, how long?

or just fresh with olive oil? it varies tremendously. For just garlic and oil and linguine, you want to smash that garlic and toss it in low simmer olive oil, then add in your not-quite-cooked linguine, toss in the pan and turn off the heat.

no self-respecting human buys that minced, peeled, whatever garlic.
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LOL...that was a bit dramatic!
 
zinfamous said:
I find that peeling garlic takes little to no effort. smash it first, as one should, peels fall off as if they were never there. I used to think the way you do, but after processing heads of garlic at a time over the years, I learned that the insignificant time savings isn't worth the relative quality difference--also, it's far cheaper to just buy fresh garlic.

When I go to the store, I look at how much I am paying someone simply to prepare something that I can quickly and easily prepare myself. It's kinda staggering the amount of money people waste when they think they are saving time, when it really just takes a bit of practice to see that time savings evaporate. Plus, you have more money to buy more and better stuff!
Click to expand...

It's not a lot of effort but if using a lot of garlic it adds up. Additionally it depends on how I was going to prepare the garlic. If the intention was to actually dice it to a fairly uniform shape for even cooking smashing it isn't exactly the best idea. At least where I am the difference in cost of fresh or pre-pealed (also fresh if from a store with high product turnover) was negligible as was the taste difference. Now if in an area the varieties used for each have different flavor profiles it would be different.

Somewhat related how much garlic do you use that cost has an actual effect or limiting the quality of other goods? I'm not even sure I've ever used even $1 worth of garlic in a single dish...
 
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Matthiasa said:
While buying it pre-minced is a bit questionable, buying it pre-pealed minimally affects taste and saves a lot of time if using a lot of garlic. Noting that it will need to be stored differently and will probably not store as long.
Click to expand...
i bought pre-peeled garlic in olive oil.
something like this except 3.5oz. (and its $1.50, which is cheaper than fresh garlic). 😱.

GarlicConfit2.jpg


cut 3 cloves into 1/4's and put it into cold olive oil.
heated them up.

still no great garlic oil taste. 🙁
next time will use 6 cloves. then 12, etc till I get that great garlic oil taste.
 
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20 minutes?

lol, those italian fools only fry their garlic in super hot oil for 1 minutes. but then again, what do they know about pasta.
 
JEDI said:
cut 3 cloves into 1/4's and put it into cold olive oil.
heated them up.

still no great garlic oil taste. 🙁
next time will use 6 cloves. then 12, etc till I get that great garlic oil taste.
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Do you always have this much difficulty following a simple recipe? Thinly slice the garlic, gently heat it until it just begins to brown, add a little pasta water. Don't over-do the cheese, if you use any at all, and for God's sake don't add that Kraft sawdust garbage.

You could also try infusing the olive oil with garlic ahead of time, in addition to cooking the sliced garlic. Can't hurt anything. And I'm not sure what you're afraid of. Three cloves? Cut to the chase.
 
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JEDI said:
i bought pre-peeled garlic in olive oil.
something like this except 3.5oz. (and its $1.50, which is cheaper than fresh garlic). 😱.

cut 3 cloves into 1/4's and put it into cold olive oil.
heated them up.

still no great garlic oil taste. 🙁
next time will use 6 cloves. then 12, etc till I get that great garlic oil taste.
Click to expand...

Cheap and stupid. What a horrible way to go thru life.
 
DigDog said:
20 minutes?

lol, those italian fools only fry their garlic in super hot oil for 1 minutes. but then again, what do they know about pasta.
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Well I'm Italian and began cooking at the age of 8, primarily Italian food. I'm 57 now. But what would I know about cooking Italian food? I got the suggestion some years back from Scott Conant who runs a fairly successful Italian restaurant in NYC called Scarpetta, but what would he know about cooking Italian food?

And the OP doesn't want to fry the garlic, he essentially wants to steep it so the garlic flavor infuses into the oil. But he needs to use fresh garlic and either slice it super thin or mince it very fine to expose the maximum surface area.
 
Hmm... when I say pre-peeled I mean something more like the following and not from a jar. Although in truth even those in the image look like they have sat around a bit longer than ideal.

How-to-Roast-Peeled-Garlic-in-the-Oven-5.jpg
 
JEDI said:
ahh.. I don't think im cooking the garlic in the olive oil for long enuf.
will try again w/longer simmer.

and why do u add water to the garlic oil?
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Because by doing it my way you're cooking the pasta to just short of al-dente, then finishing it in the remaining water + oil + garlic. Water evaporates off/absorbs the rest of the way, pasta reaches or slightly passes al-dente, and you're left with a very intimate pairing with the garlic and oil and the pasta 🙂

The water retains some of the starch from the pasta, and as it cools below gelation temperature (ca. 140F or about...er...65C?) it bonds back onto the pasta. It will have the oil and garlic in it too.
 
TastesLikeChicken said:
Well I'm Italian and began cooking at the age of 8, primarily Italian food. I'm 57 now. But what would I know about cooking Italian food? I got the suggestion some years back from Scott Conant who runs a fairly successful Italian restaurant in NYC called Scarpetta, but what would he know about cooking Italian food?
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ok dude, you asked for it. the Italian vs Italian war is on. let the blood flow.
 
Garlic is always best when added last. None of this Garlic in water, If you can`t use fresh Garlic make sure you get the Garlic that is in the oil!!!
 
JEDIYoda said:
None of this Garlic in water, If you can`t use fresh Garlic make sure you get the Garlic that is in the oil!!!
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Words to live by. I get minced garlic to make bean dip for work. Last time I accidentally got a jar packed in water. Disappointment in every bite. I'll make sure I pay close attention next time.
 
I just made this tonight. So good.

I used almost an entire head of fresh garlic. For a single large serving. 🙂 I put the oil on at the beginning of the Vikings/Packers game at 6:30 with about 2/3 of the garlic - maybe 10 cloves sliced very thin. Set my electric stove to its lowest setting. One thing I learned is that no matter how low you have the heat, the garlic will brown if cooked for 90 minutes. I think 20-30 minutes might have been better.

I went with fettuccine. Raised the heat a little on the oil and threw the last five sliced cloves of garlic into the oil for the final four minutes, Added a 1/4 cup of the pasta water about a minute or so before draining the pasta.

Do NOT forget the fresh Italian (flat) parsley. Really adds to the flavor. I couldn't find any imported Parmigiano-Reggiano when I did my last-minute shopping, so I used some domestic aged parmesan grated from a wedge. Meh. Get the good stuff.
 
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KeithTalent said:
Great minds!
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Great, if a bit slow. See previous replies.

I'm not so sure the absolute thinnest slicing of the garlic is the best idea if you want the oil to be infused with garlic flavor. What will happen is that the garlic will turn to crispy brown bits of paper far too fast.
 
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