Thank you [email protected] community!
tldr: baking/steaming garlic in the peel is the clear winner for volume clove peeling.
Crushing is the winner for a couple cloves in a stir-fry, root end cut is obviously better for garlic chips.
The last garlic peeling post had so many good suggestions that I decided to trial each of them at least a few times with fresh/older bulbs of different shapes and sizes.
One method worked in any situation.
For peeling as many cloves as you want, each technique had some major cons except for the final, winning method put forward by @[email protected] !
The results were:
Smashing -
pros: easy, classic technique. usually works.
cons: peel can get stuck inside a smash, you still have to pull off the peel, occasionally the peel is still stuck to the skin, cloves are damaged.
Slicing off root end and peeling -
pros: easy, faster
cons: still have to manually peel it, much faster but not fast.
Garlic roller -
pros: I cannot find one. Sometimes works?
cons: can only roll a couple of cloves at a time, much more effort than other methods, have to either cut off the ends first or later, so you’re doing all the work without any benefit. These are a no for me, dawg.
Shaking -
pros: fun to do, does work for more than half the cloves of large batches using two aluminum popcorn bowls for a minute of shaking.
cons: a LOT of effort, bruises the cloves before cooking, very messy, juice everywhere, inevitably doesn’t peel every clove, so you have to spend time hand peeling the leftovers, even with prep work of slicing off top and root end.
WINNER is root end cut and steaming or roasting in peel as suggested by @[email protected]:
pros: least effort, safest, cooking is already done, fastest and simplest clove peeling, no bruising beforehand, least messy
Method:
Cut off root end.
Steam(~10 minutes) or bake(400 degrees ~30 min) as much garlic as you want.
Let garlic sit for a few minutes to cool down.
Pinch the top end of each peel and the clove will pop out easily, discard peel.
Mash the garlic together and season however you like for a garlic dip.
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WINNER is root end cut and steaming or roasting in peel as suggested by @[email protected]:
pros: least effort, safest, cooking is already done, fastest and simplest clove peeling, no bruising beforehand, least messy
Con: cooking is already done, and you have set your garlic for a specific taste and texture, so the result is not as multipurpose as the techniques that don’t involve cooking.
I love roasted garlic, though!
Yup, I mentioned that up top and the alternatives for different cooking methods like stir fry or garlic chips.
this award is specifically for ease of peeling, especially for garlic dip.
I agree, roasted garlic is the beeeesssst.
Now that’s a top quality post.
If we don’t have empirically ranked garlic peeling methods, what do we have?
I was peeling garlic with just my nails like a dirty pleb, until I read this post.
you are who this post is for, my savage sibling.
you were me a few years ago, and now with the updated steam/bake method, me like 2 or 3 weeks ago, haha.
Cut root -> cut tip -> press with side of cleaver until I hear the first “cracking” noise.
Then it just unwraps in one piece. I find this a lot harder to do with a regular chef knife for some reason, but I use a cai dao 99% of the time anyway so that might just be me.
I prefer the cleaver crush as well.
you can’t get as good a balance with a regular chef knife so you can’t apply the pressure as easily.
When cutting off root end and peeling without steaming, did you try to crush them lightly between your thumb and index? I find that to do wonders!
honestly, I’ve done cutting off the root end and peeling so long now that I haven’t tried crushing them as well.
That’s good to know
Just a quick pinch, and it comes off so easily!
