I like the taste of fresh garlic and I also like the taste of GG.

There is an advantage in using GG in many recipes because as it is being reconstituted, it absorbs water and making the end result less watery.

I don't like watery pizza, pasta etc.

dcarch

I am wondering just how many cloves of garlic dcarch puts into his pizza to have the amount of moisture be greater than perhaps 1 teaspoon....spread out over a whole pizza and popped into a 450 oven it could not really make any discernable difference.

But look at the category...."Diners Drive in and Dives"...not "Fine Dining, Five-star and Fancy".
There is a difference in the taste of garlic powder, granulated and fresh. I prefer the taste of fresh but if in a tearing hurry or cooking for 100, I use granulated most of the time (but not always) because it's easier.
Linda C

That's my point Linda. Name of the program aside, these establishments are considered gourmet/upscale for their offerings. Maybe not ultra high end, but who cooks like that at home.

dcarch, additionally gran. garlic allows better control of the flavor and for many folks, easier on their digestive systems (ok, substitute older for many).

It doesn't surprise me at all that many places use it. That's why it's so easy to find in those big containers!

I would guess economics comes into play. Based on equivalencies I've seen, I calculate that one of those big jars equals about 120 heads of garlic. You can get that canister on Amazon for $6.45. How many heads of garlic can you buy and pay for staff to peel and chop, for $6.45?

No....those establishments are not considered gourmet/upscale. They are dives with surprisingly good tasting food.
Even been to di Pasquale's? It's a market with a place you can get a sandwich.

Frankly I am amazed that you would bring the subject up....I rather thought we had run the subject of fresh verses dry, powdered, granulated etc garlic into the ground.

I can enjoy a Philly cheese steak with Cheese Whiz...or a "best at the fair" greasy corn dog on a stick....but I sure don't consider it gourmet nor upscale.

However, if granulated garlic and cheeze whiz are your thing....go for it. Maybe it'll catch on at Buca di Beppo or Carluccio's.

Do you mean the already chopped-up garlic you buy in a jar? Like the big jars at Costco? I've never tried it, it certainly would be a convenience, but I wonder if it might go rancid over time.

There's a Cdn gal who hosts a show called Fixing Dinner. She swears it's the real thing, uses that all the time for speed and convenience. But she also uses a lot of canned stuff and jarred sauces etc.

I've used the chopped up garlic in a jar for years and I love the convenience of it. It takes me a long time to use a jar and I've not experienced it going rancid, jasdip. Pick up a small jar and give it a try.

Di Pasquales got a 98% from Zagats and rave reviews from the UrbanSpoon, so they're doing something right, lol

No jasdip , they used the dry granulated garlic, believe it or not. I have never tried the chopped stuff in jars, so can't comment.

Posted by lindac "I am wondering just how many cloves of garlic dcarch puts into his pizza to have the amount of moisture be greater than perhaps 1 teaspoon....spread out over a whole pizza and popped into a 450 oven it could not really make any discernable difference. ----"

You could be right the difference may not be discernable. I have not done a side-by-side taste test. Chalk it up as another one of my superstitions:
Assuming fresh garlic is 60% to 70% water, one medium size clove would be around 1/2 a teaspoon of H2O.
I tend to put more than 15 to 20 cloves in a pizza, that would be about more than 5 teaspoons of water.
With fresh garlic, you add 5 teaspoons of water, with garlic powder, you are taking away 5 teaspoons of water. The difference would be 10 teaspoons.
Will that make a difference in one cup of sauce? I don�t know.

dcarch

Paulines:
I will not argue anymore, about using Powdered Garlic or Spaghetti Sauce mixes.

I know Spatini sold Spatini Spaghetti Sauce mix, to Upscale Restaurants.

There are many who made unfounded remarks, to make me look bad in the past.
I do not do that, I tell what I know, to try to help someone.

Another thing , I do not like Warmed Tomatoes for a Pasta Sauce but many do ?

The closest I come to that is Marinara Sauce W fish.

I use Crushed Tomatoes with a lot of Parsley, Garlic and some Red Pepper for a Marinara Sauce ,
simmered for about 20 minutes and
lay in some Whiting ( Merluzza ) for 10 minutes.
**************************************************

I just finished a large batch of Traditional Pasta Sauce.
did not cool down yet.

Can not remember exactly what I put into it.

3 large cans of Crushed Tomatoes, 2 Tomatoe Puree, 1 Whole Tomatoes, Pulsed in the blender.
Small can of Paste, Fresh Basil, Parsley, Bay leaves,

3 Whole Cloves, some Red Pepper, Garlic Powder,
one half Onion Chopped small, Bay Leaves and 2 tablespoons of Chicken Soup Base.

While that was simmering I added 1 Chicken Leg with Thigh,
5 meatballs , 5 Italian Sausage.

Added 3 meatballs, chopped and 4 links of Italian Sausage,
chopped and simmered a little.

I simmered the Sauce about 2 and one half hours.

The chopped meatballs and Sausage were added, in the last 20 minutes.

When the Sauce was done I added 3 tablespoons of Parmesan.

This is the way I have known, that most Italian families have made Pasta Sauce.

Even in the Movie " The Godfather " they made it this way.

Only difference is, " I did it my way " Powdered Garlic and Spices.

Many don-t like my way but many do.

Some do not know how to doctor a recipe to suit themselves,
is this my fault ???

This is a diversified Country, eat and try what you like.

In the 60s there were not as many Pizza places and Italian restaurants as today.

I have known some of the largest and
best in Philly, personally.

I have learned from them and tried to pass it on.

In my Pizzeria I made about 150 Pizzas on a Friday. A lot were delivered to homes near other Pizzeria-s

Paulines:
Sorry I went off on a tangent but some people do this to me.
Especially when they do not know what they are talking about.

To answer your Primary Question, here I am and the Italian food is just about ready to eat.

Go for it , LOU

DCarch, I've never given any thought, before today, to possibly a minor increase in liquid if using fresh garlic.

The fact that the liquid or garlic juice, would be loaded with the flavour of garlic seems to be a plus to me. Also, simmering a few minutes longer will reduce any excess liquid as well as intensify the flavours. So in the end, it again comes down to personal preference.

Each to their own.

Ann

I agree, Ann, to each their own. I use fresh garlic because I grow it and always have it on hand and like it. My homegrown hard necked garlic stores so well that I don't see any reason to preserve it by drying, etc., and I'm not going to buy something I can grow myself. Besides, I like fresh nearly everything better than I like dried nearly anything. I didn't grow any this year, I bought my stock at Magicland, but I miss having garlic scapes in the spring, so I'll plant it again this fall.

This is a never ending argument and I don't see any reason to bring it back up and cause the beginning of yet another long standing and never ending argument which will result in nothing at all except more arguing.

As for the amount of liquid, if I ate a pizza with 15 or 20 cloves of garlic I'd die of terminal heartburn, even if I LIKED pizza, so that's not an issue for me either.

Annie

I still question whether the majority of people could even tell the difference if they didn't know. If everyone here got together and Lou made 2 batches of his sauce, one with fresh garlic and one with dry, plated it and served it so nobody could see which was which, I really have to doubt if people could tell which was which. Same point I made with the big discussion a while back on foo-foo chili powders bought from specialty places. If I made two batches of chili, one with foo-foo and the other with dollar store brand, I'm skeptical whether anyone could tell the difference.

They say you eat with your eyes, and I think often people taste with their minds. But I could be wrong.

Now if you're talking about something where the garlic is the star and you're eating the whole clove at a time, well of course as Emily Lytella would say that's very different. :)

Posted by ann_t "DCarch, I've never given any thought, before today, to possibly a minor increase in liquid if using fresh garlic.
The fact that the liquid or garlic juice, would be loaded with the flavour of garlic seems to be a plus to me. Also, simmering a few minutes longer will reduce any excess liquid as well as intensify the flavours. So in the end, it again comes down to personal preference. Each to their own. Ann "

I actually don�t consider fresh garlic and G. garlic the same. G.G. is like a seasoning, and fresh garlic is more like an herb.

I use a lot of garlic, and I use garlic in many different forms.

1. Fresh garlic as a vegetable � Elephant garlic, pickled garlic and roasted whole garlic cloves.
2. Crushed garlic � using a cleaver to crush the cloves. I use this in stir fries.
3. Garlic paste in olive oil � I keep this in the freezer and use it to brush on steaks.
4. Garlic paste in butter � I keep this in the freezer and use it for making garlic bread.
5. Granulated garlic � For thicker sauces and for dry rubs.
6. Garlic powder � I roast G. Garlic to slightly brown then pulverize with salt and pepper in a coffee grinder into fine powder like garlic flour. I use this to sprinkle on French fries and Home made potato chips.
7. Of course, I use tons of garlic to make black garlic.

dcarch

Lou, you're a sweetie.

Does anyone else find that powdered or gran. garlic sits better in their stomach than fresh? Lately, it seems that things like onions, fresh garlic, even black pepper wrecks havoc.

I can't cook without onions, lol

Ohhhh, Lou....that pasta sauce sounds so good and I'm sure it tastes even better than it sounds. I'm going to remember to put all the forms of tomatoes in next time I make a sauce.

I'm using some fresh organically grown garlic right now and I can tell a big difference in that from the store fresh garlic. The just out of the ground organic is very crunchy, with no green sprout, and HOT - very HOT! Really good stuff though. (And the jar of g. garlic is on the spice rack.)

;o)

I generally use frozen garlic. No additives - just crushed garlic. It's $1.99 for about 20 cloves so it's a little more than buying it fresh but I find it so convenient that it makes up for it. Fresh usually ends up going bad quickly on me - that is, if it isn't already dry and sprouting from the store. If I had access to good garlic that might change things but for now I'm more than happy with my frozen. I do use garlic powder too. I don't discriminate - I love garlic in all forms! I think they all have their place.

Lou, I'd like to try your marinara sauce/seasonings but I don't eat meat. Would you recommend just eliminating the chicken soup base or substituting it with something else? Veggie soup base? Is it the powder bouillon? I have the Better than Bouillon vegetable paste soup base but that's pretty strong so I'm not sure if it's the same thing. Have you made it vegetarian before? Thanks!

Dcarch, I agree. I don't consider fresh garlic and powdered/granulated garlic as the same either. But I do consider garlic both an herb and a seasoning.

Teresa, At our market there is one vendor that must have at least 10 different varieties of garlic and there are subtle differences. Some are much "hotter" than others. I try to stock up so that I have enough fresh garlic to get me through to the new year before having to buy grocery store garlic.

Ann

I found a different (for me) way to get the flavor of garlic in my cooking. I cook a fair number of dishes that call for garlic and usually olive oil too. I used garlic powder many years ago but since making those same favorite dishes with fresh garlic never looked back. I did try something new a few months ago. After seeing Nigella Lawson and her use of garlic oil, I picked up a bottle of Boyajian Garlic Oil. I wondered it the cost was worth it but figured if I didn't like or use it up it would be a lesson learned. I have since bought the second bottle! If I don't have fresh garlic I use the garlic oil. There is a tiny jar of Penzeys Granulated Garlic in my kitchen but it doesn't seem to get used much. I would be leery of trying to make garlic oil since the health risk isn't worth it. But for me the cost of the Boyajian seems like money well spent. At least for me. And since there are too many days when I either don't eat or just grab a sandwich after a long day at work, on the days I do feel like cooking the garlic oil makes it easier!

paulines, I haven't used granulated garlic but elery uses garlic powder in some of his "rubs" when smoking meat and it upsets me the same as fresh garlic. A little is fine, but if he uses it with a heavy hand I'm sick all day.

I just did it to myself last week, I made edamame hummus with two whole cloves of garlic and I was chewing Tums by Saturday morning and was ill all night Saturday night. The last time that happened was when Elery smoked some pork chops with a rub heavy with garlic. And I don't know what form of garlic Pietro's in Grand Rapids uses, but the last time Elery and I were there we had the chicken sausage with pasta, and Elery and I split it because we had calamari as an appetizer and we were BOTH miserable.

So, it appears that, in terms of gastric upset, all forms of garlic are created somewhat equal.

rosewitch, I had some of the garlic oil and liked it, I don't remember why I didn't get more!

Annie

Annie,

The second bottle I got was made by Lucini and I happen to find it in the local Walmart of all places. I only shop there when I don't have extra time to make a trip to Super G where I would much rather do my shopping. I was surprised to see that there was also Basil, Chili, Lemon and White Truffle infused olive oils made by Lucini on the shelf as well as the garlic. I bought the garlic and was severely tempted by the Basil but passed it up that day. But there have been many cooking opportunities lately when I so wish I had added that basil oil to my shopping cart! I may have to make a return trip in the near future.
Kat

Kat, thanks, you reminded me that I got small bottles from Scabicca's, lemon, basil, jalapeno and (I think) garlic. I still have some of the jalapeno in the cupboard, it was too hot for me because I'm a wimp, LOL. I can't take any more heat than I can garlic!

I'll have to remind Elery it's there, I'll bet he'll use it.

Annie