In times gone by, the sages divided this world into four elements: earth, air fire and water. If these philosophers had been cooks as well, they would have included a fifth element—garlic. For all good cooks, and surely all chefs, would be lost without this pungent vegetable. Even an occasional gourmet who cares little for the flavor of garlic has to admit that, used with prudence, it can enhance a dish without overwhelming it. Certainly there is nothing that makes quite the same contribution to an attractive and varied cuisine.
Because the flavor of garlic is strong when a clove of it is freshly cut, many people are surprised to find that crushing or cooking it dispels almost all the acrid flavor. And when that evaporates, only a pleasant kind of parfum remains, a savor which ends subtly and delightfully with almost any kind of foodstuff—desserts, of course, excepted.
Altogether, a strange Utile commodity, garlic—is it not? Causing so much heated discussion, loved and hated with such intensity that there is seldom a middle-of-the-road point of view. History records that the ancients too, held these diverse opinions. The early Egyptians, for example. were extremely fond of garlic in conking, and the Romans ascribed all sons of magical properties to it. But the ancient Greeks thoroughly disliked it and would not use it in any way at all. In our own times, French and Italian artists of the kitchen are devoted to garlic, and would think you mad if you asked them to get along without it.
Nor do the French confine garlic to the kitchen. I well remember how the country folk in my part of France put great faith in garlic's medicinal and tonic qualities. The farmers used to say that they increased their strength and could do more work in the fields if they ate plenty of garlic In many households an adequate intake of garlic was insured by putting several cloves of it in drinking water a few hours before bedtime. A good housewife made certain her family drank the draught before retiring, much as a conscientious modern mother will insist on orange juice or cod liver oil. There was also a custom of mixing raw garlic with butter, spreading it on bread, and eating it in the month of May to guarantee good health all the year round. And some people kept a few cloves of garlic in their pockets to word off colds and to keep from contracting any contagious sickness that might be going around. Others ate it as a nerve sedative, and the use of garlic as an antidote for insect and snake bites was very common.
Apart from all its other virtues, garlic in France is considered indispense when curing a new casserole — the traditional kind, made of brown clay with an unglazed outer surface. The theory is that the clay is toughened and becomes much more dure when the casserole is rubbed inside and out, with cut pieces of garlic so that the oil from the garlic penetrates the clay. Then the casserole is filled with water in which celery leaves, onion skins. leek tops, chopped carrots and parsley stems have been put. The casserole is placed on an asbestos or metal mat to protect it from the direct flame, the water is brought to a boil, and the mixture simmered for at least two hours. The liquid is discarded, and the casserole is considered “seasoned”—there is no taste of clay when it is used—and toughened by the garlic.
Interesting as these uses are, our concern is nor primarily with them, but with culinary merits of garlic. And these are many. André Simon, the international connoisseur of food and wine, defines garlic as “the most pungent and wholesome member of the large onion family; like-all that is best, it must be used with care and discretion.” That is as safe a general rule as I know to guide you. Then when you want to do something unusual, when the meal demands food with great character, a robust kind of goût, throw discretion to the winds, and make such delicious things as garlic spreads for hors-d'oeuvre. garlic toast or aïoli sauce. Any of these garlicky delicacies will please your friends who like foods that are really savory.
When you cook garlic, there are numerous ways of handling it. A chef's recipe will invaribly state “crush the garlic” or suggest using “crushed garlic” And although chopped garlic is sometimes called for, this is nor really correct according to the best culinary practices. The chef does chop it on the board first, but then he takes the flat side of a big, heavy knife and slaps it down sharply, crushing the garlic completely—that is. if he is using a small amount. If a number of cloves of garlic are to be crushed, he puts them in a mortar and pounds them with a small pestle. Of course, you can buy one of the popular little gadgets called a garlic crusher. It does the job well but must be carefully washed after using so no stale flavor will cling to it. However it is done, crushing garlic releases the oil, permitting the heavy flavor to evaporate.
Garlic should never be cooked long enough in butter or oil to take on any color at all. The flavor becomes bitter. For a pleasant garlic flavor in butter or oil to be used for saucing sautéed meat, fish or vegetes, put the garlic in the pan with the butter at the last minute and pour the mixture over the food. French recipes often say une pointe d'ail, which means a very little crushed garlic, just as much as can be picked up on (he tip of a small pointed kitchen knife.
There are certain foods and dishes that are traditionally flavored with garlic. In the Italian and Spanish cuisines many of the main dishes are so flavored. There are plenty of garlic-flavored dishes in French cuisine, too. Bouilla-bahsc de Marseille is one. boeuf bourguignonne is another. Eggplant dishes usually include garlic, and sauced meat dishes like beef or lamb stew, oxtail ragoût, coq au vin are always improved by a trace of garlic. A very simple and delicious way to prepare eggplant is to dip it in milk and then in flour, sauré it until golden, and then pour over it a sauce made by cooking butter until it is hazelnut brown and adding a little crushed garlic and finely chopped parsley. And I am very fond of tomatoes that have been split, the cut sides covered with fine bread crumbs mixed with a trifle of crushed garlic and chopped parsley, then dotted with melted butter and browned in a hot oven or under the broiler. The bread crumbs absorb the moisture of the tomatoes and the garlic perfumes them,
Those who like snails must like garlic since a strong garlic butter always accompanies these delecte little creatures. And those who like garlic invariy use it in roasting lamb. It is well to remember that lamb getting toward the mutton stage is greatly improved by using garlic in cooking. But it also adds a very pleasant flavor to young Iamb. There are two ways of using it. One is to make a few tiny cuts in the surface of the lamb with a sharp knife and insert wedges cut from cloves of garlic into the cuts. The other is to rub the leg of lamb with garlic oil, made in the following way—
Garlic Oil
Parboil 12 cloves of peeled garlic, drain, and crush in a mortar. Add 1 ½ to 2 cups olive oil and strain through fine cheesecloth. Use the oil for making salad dressings also.
Garlic Butter for Hors-D'Oeuvre
Parboil 6 cloves of peeled garlic, drain, and crush in a mortar, Add ¼ pound sweet butter, mix together until thoroughly ended, and rub through a fine sieve.
Garlic Spread for Hort-d'Oeuvre
Parboil 6 cloves of peeled garlic, drain, and crush in a mortar. Add the yolks of 6 hard- cooked eggs and mash together until thoroughly ended. Add 3 tablespoons butter, mix well, and rub through a fine sieve.
In making salad the use of garlic is a must with most gourmets. In fact cooks who don't use garlic in anything else do like a trace of its flavor in a tossed green salad. There are several ways of doing this. Proby the most popular one is to rub the salad bowl with a Cur piece of garlic. Then when the greens and dressing are tossed together 0 delicate flavor, and it will be very delicate, merely a subtle hint of garlic pervades the salad, Those who prefer a bit more flavor usually put a thin slice or two of garlic in a mortar and crush them along with the salt and pepper—or the three can be put in the bottom of the salad bowl and crushed together with the back of a spoon Then the oil and vinegar are thoroughly mixed in and finally the greens are tossed in this garlic-flavored dressing. (Because garlic's flavor is so volatile it loses its heaviness when crushed and becomes very pleasant when used this way.) The French arc particularly fond of chapons as a means of getting a light garlicky flavor into the salad. And chapons are easy to make, as the following recipe shows.
Chapons
Cut the crust from French bread and rub the crust all over with the cut surface of garlic cloves, rubbing it well so that the flavor will penetrate. Cut the crust in pieces about as big as the end of your thumb, add these cbapons to the greens and dressing in the salad bowl. and toss all together. Serve the chapons with the salad or nor, as desired.
Ancbory Garlic Canapé
Pound 16 filers of anchovies in a mortar with 3 cloves of garlic, chopped. Add 2 tablespoons soaked and pressed-out bread crumbs, a little ground pepper, and 1 teaspoon anchovy oil. Work the mixture to a smooth paste and season it with a few drops of wine vinegar. Spread the paste on slices of French bread, brushed with olive oil, and grill. Serve very hot.
Garlic Sauce
Parboil 6 to 8 cloves of peeled garlic, drain, and crush in a mortar. In a sauce-pan melt 2 tablespoons butter, add 1 teaspoon chopped onion, and cook until the onion is soft, but nor brown. Add 2 tablespoons flour and cook, stirring, until the roux turns golden. Add gradually 1 ½ cups hot milk, stirring vigorously until the sauce is smooth and thickened. Add 1/8 teaspoon salt and cook over a gentle flame for about 20 minutes, or until the sauce is reduced to I cup. stirring frequently. Add the crushed garlic, cook for 10 minutes longer, and strain the sauce through a sieve.
Escasgots Bourguignonne Satuee
Cream 1 ¼ cup butter and add 2 teaspoons finely chopped shallot, 2 cloves of garlic, crushed to a fine paste, 1 tablespoon each of finely chopped parsley and chives, and talc and pepper to taste,end well. Drain about 6 do/en cooked snails, wash and dry the shells thoroughly, and place a small nugget of the butter mixture into each. Place the snails in the prepared shells, sealing each opining with a thick coat of the same butter mixture, and place them on a flat baking tin in a moderate oven (375° F.) for 6 to 7 minutes.
Sauce Aioli
Crush 6 to 8 cloves of garlic very thoroughly in a mortar and pound in ¼ teaspoon sale. Put the mixture in a bowl with 2 egg yolks and mix thoroughly. Add a few drops of olive oil and beat vigorously. Continue adding oil, a very little at a time, until about 2 tablespoons have been added, then in a thin stream until 1 cup has been added, beating constantly. If the mixture seems too thick add ½ teaspoon or more of water. Add the juice of ½ lemon. Serve on hot or cold fish or vegetes.
A variation is to mix in gradually, before the lemon juice. ½ cup mashed potatoes. This keeps the sauce from separB-ating.
Filets of Fish Andalouse
Make tomato purée as follows: In a saucepan melt 2 tablespoons butter and in it sauté 1 tablespoon chopped shallots or Onion until soft, but not brown. Add 1 teaspoon finely crushed garlic and 6 large, ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, and cook the mixture slowly until the excess liquid from the tomatoes is cooked away. Stir in 1 tablespoon chopped parsley and set aside.
Cut 12 slices of eggplant about ½ inch thick. Dip the slices in milk, then in flour, and saute in hot olive oil until golden brown on both sides Drain on absorbent paper
Dip 6 fish filets in milk, then in Hour, and saute in hot oil until lightly browned on both sides. Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper and arrange the filets side by side in a shallow, heatproof serving dish. Reserve 1/3 cup of the tomato purée, pour the remainder over the fish, and garnish with 6 mushrooms, sliced and cooked. Arrange the egg-plant slices around the fish, put a generous teaspoon of tomato purée on each slice, and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Add 2 tablespoons concentrated fish stock or the liquid from cooking the mushrooms to 1 cup hot cream sauce (see January, 1954). Combine the sauce with 2 beaten egg yolks and bring almost to a boil. Remove from the fire and whip in 2 tablespoons butter. Correct the seasoning with salt and a little freshly ground pepper and fold in 2 tablespoons whipped cream. Pour the sauce over the fish and eggplant and glaze under the broiler flame.
Filets of Fisb Persane
In a Shallow pan large enough to hold 6 fish filets, melt 2 tablespoons hotter and add 1 tablespoon chopped shallots or onions and 1 teaspoon crushed garlic. Arrange the fish on the vegetes, season with a little sale and pepper, and cover with 3 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped. Scatter over the tomatoes 6 mushrooms, sliced. and sprinkle with finely chopped parsley. Add 1 cup dry white wine and cover the pan with a round of buttered wax paper with a tiny hole in the center to vent the steam. Bring the liquid in the pan to a boil, cover the pan, and cook on top of the Stove or in a hot oven (450° F.) for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the fish is done.
Remove the fish to a heatproof serving dish and continue to cook the liquid remaining in the pan until it is reduced by one-third. Heat 2 egg yolks into 1 cup hot cream sauce (see January, 1954) and stir it into the sauce in the pan. Bring almost to a boil. stirring vigorously. Remove from the fire and swirl in 2 tablespoons butter. Fold in 2 teaspoons whipped cream.
While the fish is cooking, cut an egg-plant into 6 pieces about ½ inch thick. Dip the pieces in milk, then in flour. and sauté them in very hot oil until browned on both sides. Arrange the eggplant on the fish, pour the sauce over the eggplant, and glaze under the broiler flame.
Garlic Soup Provençale
In a soup kettle put 2 quarts water, 15 to 18 small cloves of garlic, 1 sprig of thyme, 1 clove, a pinch of sage, 1 tablespoon sale, and a little pepper Bring the water to a boil and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. In an ovenproof casserole or soup tureen put about 20 small slices of French bread, strain the garlic bouillon over the bread, and sprinkle with grated Parmesan or dry Swiss cheese and about 2 tablespoons olive oil. Put the tureen in a hot oven (450° I'.) for a few minutes until the cheese is melted.
Crab Meat Creole
In a saucepan melt 2 tablespoons butter, add ¼ cup dry sherry and, when the sherry is hot, add 1 quart fresh crab meat and 16 to 24 shrimp. cooked, shelled, and divided. Cook over a low flame until the fish is heated through.
Make a Creole sauce as follows: In a saucepan melt 2 tablespoons butter, add 6 mushrooms, sliced, 1 tablespoon chopped onion, 1 teaspoon crushed garlic, and I green pepper, finely diced, and cook slowly until the vegetes are-soft. Add 1 pimiento, diced, and I cup tomato sauce (see January, 1954), mix well, and cook for 10 to 12 minutes. Correct the seasoning with salt and freshly ground pepper. Combine the sauce and fist and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon chopped parsley.
Frogs' Legs Provençale
Dip enough frogs' legs to serve 6 in milk, then in flour and sauté them quickly in a mixture of half olive oil and butter until golden brown. Turn the frogs' legs into a serving dish and sprinkle them with salt and pepper, a few drops of lemon juice, and chopped parsley.
Cook 6 tablespoons butter until hazelnut brown, add 1 tablespoon minced garlic, and pour the garlic butter over the frogs' legs.