Garlic cloves (or a bud--a full knob-shaped bulb of cloves)

A strong and sharp kitchen knife, such as a carver's or butcher knife

A sturdy chopping or butcher's block.

Optional:

A fresh lemon

30 seconds to five minutes per clove from peeling to chopping

In homestyle Thai cooking, the garlic is often left unpeeled. Aside from saving the cook some labor, leaving the peel on the garlic in stir fry dishes produces an especially appetizing aroma.

2torial #0857: Learn2 Prepare Garlic For the sweet smell of garlicky success... There's nothing as delicious as a home-cooked Italian meal complete with pasta, fresh tomato sauce and garlic bread. Except maybe a pungent Thai stirfry with snow peas, red chilies, holy basil and garlic. Or perhaps a fiery Indian curry with cumin, coriander, cayenne, and garlic. You get the idea--garlic is good. And it's been hailed as a health tonic by traditional healers for centuries, now with the backing of modern medical research. Unfortunately, peeling the cloves of garlic required to give those dishes their zing is the sort of culinary chore that can be tiresome for even an experienced cook. And the same is true for crushing and mincing garlic. But it doesn't have to be that way: here are some simple instructions which should help any amateur chef overcome their fear of garlic--unless, of course, they're a vampire. You should remove all of your garlic cloves from the head before starting. Crushing garlic is recommended if you want a stronger garlic flavor--this releases more of the pungent flavor and natural juices of garlic. Marinades and foods such as Caesar salad and shrimp scampi demand crushed garlic. Garlic chopped into slices or larger pieces will usually add a light flavor to your dish. It's less likely to dissolve or soften, so you won't get as strong a garlic flavor as you will with crushed garlic. A happy medium could be mincing garlic which is less pungent than crushed garlic, but still adds great flavor for recipes that require stir-frying or sauteeing. Since minced garlic is very finely chopped into small cubical pieces, it will dissolve more easily when cooking. In stir-fry dishes especially, minced garlic adds a great deal of flavor to the cooking oil used in the frying pan. Part 1: Peel garlic Begin at the end Looking at the garlic clove, you'll see a tough piece at the end. This is the part that was attached to the bottom of the garlic head before the clove was removed. Place the garlic clove on the chopping block, and using the tip of your knife, slice off that end. Break the skin Keeping the garlic on the chopping block, use your thumb and index finger to hold the sides of the clove. Hold the knife with the other hand. Again using the tip of the knife, carefully make a vertical slit from top to bottom in the skin of the garlic. Tap into it Keeping the garlic on the chopping block, tap the clove once or twice with the back of the blade of the knife. Peel it off The skin should be nicely loosened at this point and can easily be pulled off in one piece. If the skin is still not loose enough, repeat Step 3. Carefully making a slit down the side of the skin may help matters. The garlic is now ready to be crushed, chopped, minced, or used whole. Yes, you've read it correctly: whole garlic! Try it in stews or with grilled vegetables. Part 2: Crush garlic Have a whack at it Place the unpeeled garlic clove on chopping block. Grasping the butcher's knife by the handle (with the blade upside down), give the garlic a hard whack with the back of the blade. If it's not pretty well collapsed, give it another whack. Start chopping Once the garlic is well crushed, you can chop it further. Hold the knife handle with one hand and hold the top of the blade at the front with the fingertips of your other hand. You can then chop the garlic to your preference. Again, the more you chop the garlic, the more pungency it will add to your dish. Smaller garlic pieces will release more of their juices and dissolve better. Part 2: Chop garlic Place the peeled clove of garlic on the chopping block. Hold the knife with one hand and the front of the blade with the other. Starting at one end of the clove move the knife up and down until you've made pieces of the desired size. The partially chopped garlic may start to spread out away from your knife. Angle the dull edge of the knife towards the garlic, scoop it back into a pile and continue chopping. Again, the thinner the slice, the more it will dissolve--thus adding more flavor than if you slice it thicker. Part 4: Mince garlic When you set out to mince garlic, you can end with a pile of neatly minced garlic or a cutting board with garlic chunks of various sizes spread all over the place. The key to ending with a neat pile lies in two techniques: the finger position of the hand that holds the garlic, and the slicing motion of the knife. The result will be tiny cubes of garlic, perfect for salad dressings, marinades, and dishes requiring a lighter touch of garlic. Make the vertical slices Place a whole, peeled garlic clove on the chopping block. Hold the clove steady on the sides of the clove. Using the tip of your knife, make three or four vertical slices in the garlic clove, making sure to cut all the way through. Making these cuts of equal thickness will give you the best results. Make a crisscross or grid pattern Turn the garlic clove 90 degrees. Again, with the tip of your knife, make three or four more vertical cuts so that you have a criss-cross or grid pattern. Hold the clove Two crucial points will help you at this juncture: the finger position and the slicing motion.With the tip of the knife, mince garlic by cutting horizontally from top. Take a look at the thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers of your non-dominant hand (that's the hand you'll hold the garlic with, not the hand that holds the knife. These will be the mechanism that controls the thickness of the tiny garlic cubes you about to make. The index and middle fingers are the front runners--they rest on the front edge of the garlic where you'll start slicing. Equally important is the angle of these fingers: the second knucles are vertical, with the first knuckles (the ones nearest to the garlic) curled in slightly away from the edge of the clove. (This will prevent you from mincing your fingertips.) There should only be a small portion of the clove visible as you look down your fingers from above. The thumb has an important function which will be revealed to you a little later. For now let it rest on the cutting board directly behind the clove and the fingers in front. Slice with rhythm Rest the flat side of the knife against your fingers. Using this placement as a guide, the knife stays in the same plane--it doesn't move laterally, either toward your fingers or away from them. Lift the knife off the cutting board, but still in contact with your fingers. Lift it a little away from you and the garlic, and towards the other side of the cutting board. Slice downwards on the criss-crossed using the heel of the knife (its back edge). As you slice downwards, also draw the knife towards you. This downward and sideways movement slices through garlic more easily, leaving you with a neat pile instead of a big sloppy mess. Lift the knife again, up and away from you, and again slice downwards and towards you. Practice this movement without even slicing any garlic. Soon you'll realize, as the movement gets smoother, that it's circular. Keep at and you'll feel the rhythm of this ancient motion. Before you slice any further, read on...   Thrust with the thumb Now that you've got the circular motion and you're slicing with rhythm, you're ready to incorporate the thumb into this symphony of movement. The thumb is the driver of the mincing operation. As you lift the knife up and away from you, push the garlic towards the knife. You'll have it out just in time for the knife to descend and slice through it. Again, as the knife ascends, you push the garlic out just enough to make a small cube from the criss-cross pattern you've already made. The thumb forces the garlic out into the slicing line, and aslo prevents it from making an rear-exit escape. Its destiny to become minced is certain. Work slowly and carefully at first. Eventually you'll be able to mince with great speed with this technique, but don't rush it , or your fingers will be sorry that you did. As you get towards the end of the clove, you may find it necessary to angle the blade slighty in towards the fingers. But keep the flat of the blade resting on the second knuckles! Look closely where you're slicing and you'll never get a cut. As you get o the very tip of the clove, just take your fingers away and chop up the remains into small cubes. Bon appetit! -end- Learn More!