You Never Have to Chop Garlic
I avoid chopping the garlic at all costs. It’s not my technique, but my will. I hate doing this, so I don’t. Having created every known recipe with chopped, chopped, chopped, or mashed garlic in place of the ubiquitous minced meat, I’m here to tell you that chopping is completely unnecessary. Sometimes it even spoils the recipe.
Fries and sautés usually require minced garlic, so let’s start with those. Here’s the problem: Everyone loves the deliberately crunchy golden brown garlic chips, but burnt garlic tastes like shit. If you are cooking garlic over high heat, the minced meat is very easy to set on fire . For roasts, homemade chili oil, and all other recipes in which the garlic is very hot, the coarse chop gives you a little more breathing room between “slightly browned” and “burnt.” Yes, slightly larger chunks of garlic will be more noticeable in the finished dish, but they will also be sweet, tender and slightly caramelized. Personally, I don’t see any drawbacks.
Chopped garlic is also suitable for pickles. No matter how carefully you remove the excess from a piece of meat, the garlic always sticks, and when you fry or grill the meat, the garlic burns. This sample as predictable as any physical law, and yet we continue dutifully to grind the garlic for our silly little pickles (and salads, which are basically the same) when we need to grind them using a blender and continue their lives. In a smooth, uniform marinade, you do not need to set the pieces on fire.
Examples keep coming in. If you want the special taste and texture of finely minced raw garlic, you can achieve this with a grater or press. Any dish that is simmered for more than 15 or 20 minutes will soften the peeled, crushed cloves so much that you can mash them directly into a prepared sauce or spread on bread. (Custom made, garlic bread on the table, anyone?) Pesto, chimichurri, sofrito, curry paste and similar mixtures are best prepared in a food processor or mortar and pestle ; Why chop garlic that will be chopped by machine? What are you trying to prove?
As far as I can tell, the only good reason to worry about chopping garlic is that you like it. If it’s you, go ahead. But for everyone else, let this be a permission to break free from the limitations of chopping garlic and focus on the fun parts of cooking.