The Garlic Trick

My husband and I attended a knife skills class a few weeks ago at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. I'd been wanting to take a class like this for a long time now so that I could learn how to properly prep food items, what knives to use for what kind of jobs, and how to care for my knives. We had a wonderful time learning with Chef Brendan and couldn't wait to get home to try out our new skillz. Not only did we learn technique, Chef Brendan also imparted a few tips and tricks. One such trick is how to peel an entire head of garlic in less time than it is taking me to type out this post.

I kid you not. You can peel an entire head of garlic in under a minute.

Continue to scoff, all ye skeptics. But peer below and see how it is done.

First pull off the papery outer layers, then break apart the garlic
into individual cloves and place them in a metal or glass bowl

Once all your cloves are separated you can discard the tough root piece

Cover your bowl with another bowl (if you don't have a bowl
the same size you may be able to use a plate);
SHAKE VIGOROUSLY for about 35 seconds

Check the bowl to see if all the garlic has separated from its skins;
if not, cover and shake a bit more. The goal is to smash the garlic against
the hard surface of the bowl to get it to release from its skin.
Use those muscles!

And in less than a minute you have peeled an entire
head of garlic. Whatever you don't need at the time
can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container
or zipper baggie. It will keep for 1 - 2 weeks.
Note that by doing this the garlic will release some of
its oil making it a bit sticky. That just means you did it right.

Oh yeah. YOU'RE WELCOME.


UPDATE: Note that the best way to store your peeled garlic (that I've found, anyway) is in an airtight glass container. I tried a zipper baggie, but it overwhelmed my fridge with a garlic smell. I tried a plastic airtight container but the garlic got slimy quicker than I would have liked. With the glass container, my garlic stays fresh much longer and I couldn't be happier to have peeled garlic on-hand whenever I need it!