If you have read any of my other posts, I am big on quotes. French American chef and culinary writer Louis Diat, who often claimed he was the creator of the famed cold leek and potato soup, “Vichyssoise,” once said, “Without garlic, I would simply not care to live.”
As you know, garlic falls into a category of foods known as alliums, whose cousins include scallions, shallots, leeks, chives and ramps. Besides making food taste great in almost every culture around the globe, garlic and alliums, in general, provide a host of healthy benefits. The potential for lowering blood pressure, inhibiting the activity of specific inflammatory proteins that drive health issues like heart disease, diabetes and arthritis, and may lower cholesterol and support immune functions. Garlic nutrients and plant compounds give it potent antioxidant properties, which may soak up the damaging free radicals that could lead to diseases like cancer. Not to mention, though it has been unproven and disputed, garlic has even been thought to ward off vampires if you're into that sort of thing 😉.
Now self admittedly, I am without a doubt a “garlic-aholic.” Not quite in the same league as Louis Diat; I'd still want to live if garlic didn't exist. I would still have all the other alliums to cling to like a life preserver. Dishes that spotlight the use of garlic can be extraordinarily simple or incredibly complex. Albeit, depending on who you speak to, garlic should be used sparingly not to overpower it. I don't see it that way. The more, the merrier, I say. But then again, I am a “garlic-aholic.”
An example of a simple garlic recipe that is frankly one of my very favorites is New Jersey-Style Garlic Crabs consisting of freshly cleaned, cracked crabs sautéed over high heat with lots of garlic, onion, butter, ground pepper and chili flakes.
Served with a local IPA after an exhausting fishing trip... “Life is Good.” If you are ever in the vicinity of Seaside Park, NJ. I recommend you stop into Bum Rogers Crab House & Tavern and order yourself some; you won't be disappointed.
An example of garlic recipes considered to be complex would be anything that involves the use of black garlic. I have served many sauces using black garlic on various protein and vegetable dishes, and the number one description I get is that it tastes “mysterious.” Although black garlic may look like fresh garlic gone wrong, it's an ingredient that chefs across the globe have embraced wholeheartedly. Its sweet earthy taste minus the characteristic allium heat makes it the ultimate umami-packed flavor booster, adding incredibly complex and intense flavor to dishes.
To be fair and equitable, let's go back to alliums. My favorite (although a close personal second would be ramps) is the Spanish Calcot. Calcots are a variety of green onions from the Catalonian Region of Spain. For me and many, they are something out of a good dream. Calcots are celebrated annually between January and the end of April with various festivals and rituals. They're served chard on a platter and sucked down with a generous swallow of red wine. I love to make and help them with a side of romesco sauce, again, something out of a beautiful dream.
As all of us here at Custom Culinary® genuinely live our motto, Be True to the Food®. That said, I highly recommend you order our Custom Culinary® Master’s Touch® Roasted Garlic Flavor Concentrate. This delicious labor-saving product will help you to romance a host of recipes celebrating “The Glory of Garlic.”
Recommending the use of lots of mouthwash,
Chef Michael
Michael Smith, CEC, AAC
Corporate Executive Chef
Custom Culinary, Inc.
P.S. Back to the claim that Louis Diat made about being the inventor a Vichyssoise, this too remains unproven and somewhat disputed.
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