Whole cloves of garlic

corblimey

So I've been watching the new Gordon Ramsey show (the first half of the first one, anyway - at least he's stopped saying 'done') and for a couple of the dishes, he's crushed a garlic clove under his knife and thrown it into the pan with, for example, 2 chicken breasts, skin on. I'm guessing the garlic infuses the oil, although the cooking time seems so short, I don't know how much infusing goes on.

However, he then proceeds to remove the clove and place it on the plate along with the chicken, presumably not as a form of decoration, but as something to eat. Since the clove is still whole, just a little crushed, what would the eater of this dish do with it? Has anyone ever served whole cloves - do you mash it in, slice it yourself, squeeze it like a lemon?

twerg_85

If it's roasted, you can squeeze it and get all the gooey garlicky goodness. It it was pan fried for a short time, not sure that I'd go near a whole clove. Thin slices of it can be fried up quickly to make garlic chips.

F.

rubadub

If they are baked you can usually squeeze from the end bit and it all oozes out. This can be mashed into stuff as you say. EDIT- beaten to it

But not sure about this short frying

I don't know how much infusing goes on

I feel the same, often I am watching thinking it is a terrible waste of some spices/foods. Like when they might throw an onion & unpeeled garlic or something in a big pot and it is later strained out and not eaten. If it was finely chopped you can probably get away with using less.

Curry Addict

the frying of the chicken would be at least 12mins. garlic will turn brown and bitter if fried for a long time so its best to put it in 2-3 mins before the end.
1 clove will give a mild garlic undertone to the overall dish. after cooking, the garlic itself, will have just a mild garlic taste and is quite nice to eat.

corblimey

Curry Addict wrote: »

the frying of the chicken would be at least 12mins. garlic will turn brown and bitter if fried for a long time so its best to put it in 2-3 mins before the end.
1 clove will give a mild garlic undertone to the overall dish. after cooking, the garlic itself, will have just a mild garlic taste and is quite nice to eat.

So you can just pop it in your mouth like a boiled sweet?

Curry Addict

yes it will be nice too!

ElleEm

corblimey wrote: »

So you can just pop it in your mouth like a boiled sweet?

This is exactly how my boyfriend describes it- especially if it's been roasted.
I would usually mash it up in the situation the OP describes as I would feel it would be far too undercooked to eat raw.

Awesome-O

I've done a few cookery courses in South East Asia and they nearly always use whole cloves like this, I think maybe it something he picked up when he was filming his Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam programmes. Thing is it works there and tastes good to eat a whole clove because their garlic isn't as strong, not sure I'd eat it here cooked like you described

Tipperary animal lover

We eat loads of garlic with or meals raw roasted sautéed mashed sliced diced hole.... If your happy to eat a hole clove of garlic go for it, I think the best way to get really used to the taste is probably roast a hole bulb and use most in mashed spud and have a few on the side with your meat.