Brush the Cheese Balls With Fried Garlic
If you’ve ever eaten a cheese ball, you know that what’s on the outside is almost as important as what’s on the inside (cheese). The outer layer of the cheeseball should be crispy, contrasting and intriguing. You should look at this ball of cheese and say, “Yes, I would like to dig into this and see what is the matter.”
Fried garlic does all this and more. It is crispy, savory and slightly bitter – perfect foil for a thick, creamy milk ball.
While I’m sure you are capable of roasting the garlic until golden brown, please understand that I am not telling you to chop up a bunch of cloves and then fry the bunch of tiny pieces. It will be tedious and time-consuming, and these are two things that go directly against the spirit of a cheese ball. (Cheeseballs should be light and fresh.)
I suggest you grab a bowl, bag, or jar of pre-fried chunks of garlic, which you can buy at almost any Asian grocery store (and online ) for a reasonable amount. And I suggest you roll your cheeseballs at this one.
Aside from chocolate chip dessert cheese balls and the like, there are a few cheese balls that garlic would not be a welcome addition to. I tasted it on this Spicy Cheeseball by AllRecipes – the smell comes from the salty juice – and ate a quarter of it in a quarter of an hour. (That’s an impressive level of consumption of cheese balls, if I say so.)
The process of covering a ball of cheese with garlic is the same as the process of covering a ball of cheese with nuts or bagel seasoning. Place it on a rimmed plate and roll the cheese into pieces, pushing them into the ball if necessary to make them stick better. Serve with crackers and watch your savory, slightly tangy cheese ball eaten at an almost alarming rate.