skip to main content

I Have A Question About Garlic...

11 years ago

Yesterday I made the Pot of Chicken w/ Lemon & Garlic dish that is pictured on the cover of Dorie Greenspan's "Around My French Table" cookbook. It's a family favorite, but it was the first time I made it for my parents.

The recipe calls for the cloves from 4 heads of garlic to be browned with vegetables which are then cooked in a Dutch oven (with a 4 lb. chicken nestled in them) for an hour. Wine, broth & herbs are poured over the chicken, making a yummy sauce.

The directions say to separate the cloves from the head of garlic, but NOT to peel them. It results in deliciously roasted little pods of garlic that you can squeeze onto accompanying bread slices with which you can sop up the sauce. The problem....it's hard to find all the garlic cloves and sometimes they blend in with shallots or onions and if you should swallow the papery cover, you feel like it might get caught in your throat.

So, my questions is, do you think it would work to somehow corral the garlic cloves in a cheesecloth packet that would cook with and flavor the vegetables, but would keep the garlic separate so the cloves could easily be removed? Are there any obvious flaws with this plan that I'm just not thinking of?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

lindac
11 years ago
Have you ever really swallowed an unpeeled clove of garlic, papery skin and all? I think it's a non issue, you notice that papery stuff in your mouth....even if I have left a little bit of skin on a clove and it gets into the pot...I know it if it gets in my mouth!
Save yourself the trouble!...tell people to watch for errant cloves of garlic....or sepearate out the very small cloves and just put in the big ones.
Linda c
User
Original Author
11 years ago
Yes, I did swallow one yesterday, which prompted my thought to attempt to keep them separate. The vegetables (sweet potatoes, carrots, celery, shallots, pearl onions) and the garlic really do soften a lot and the garlic just seems to meld in, especially color-wise with onions & shallots.

I didn't realize till I felt it in my throat. It was like if you accidentally swallow a piece of the choke from an artichoke. I was able to discreetly drink water to help swallow it, but I was worried through the rest of dinner that it would happen to one of my elderly parents.
Related Discussions
Question about mulching garlic
Q
Comments (6)
I've grown garlic mulched both ways; Spring & Fall. SSE uses Fall mulching on their garlic, right after planting. I used straw one year, Fall mulched... it was a disaster. Too much wheat seed was in the straw, it was a major weeding task in Spring. Now I mostly mulch with green marsh hay in Spring; far fewer weeds, and the hay decomposes faster, releasing nutrients to the garlic. Better still, use alfalfa hay, if you can find it. If you have the space to do so, it's better to buy green hay from the second cutting, and hold it over in a dry place until Spring... fewer weed seeds than the first cutting. I add fresh grass clippings on top of the hay, as it breaks down and/or is eaten by earthworms. Don't know about leaves; I would be concerned if they formed a soggy wet mat, just as I would for too many fresh grass clippings. In that case, I would pull the mat aside from the stems. Hopefully shredded leaves are OK. Fall mulching might be necessary for growing some of the less hardy garlics in our Northern neck of the woods; I find that softnecks & elephant garlic (which is not a true garlic) have the most winter-kill. Personally, if a variety can't make it here, I replace it with something hardier. Last of all, there is the question of frost heave. I've only had that problem when garlic was planted too late to establish a root system... but if it is a problem in your garden, then Fall mulching is probably necessary. Incidentally, I used no mulch on my garlic over the winter this year, and the emergence so far looks outstanding. I think that Fall mulching is most helpful when a thin/non-existent snow cover offers little protection from the cold... certainly not a problem this year! Probably more than you asked for, Alicate, guess I got carried away. :-)
...See More
Question about what to do with Wild Garlic
Q
Comments (1)
A pot would be the best idea for wild garlic and it should work just fine as long as you keep the seed heads trimmed off. That way, they can only reproduce by the underground bulbils that are controlled by the pot. I'd definitely keep them out of the grass ... they're a real pain to get rid of once they get in there and they don't shade out other, more annoying weeds.
...See More
Newbie's stupid question about Katie's garlic tomato soup
Q
Comments (2)
You can if you wish. Some do, some don't. The seeds don't bother many folks but some of us feel they add a bitterness we prefer to leave out. If you choose to then I just cut the tomatoes in halves, or quarters if they are really big. Then just use your thumb to pop out the seed gel pack in each half or quarter. You won't get every seed but it does get 95%% of them. If the tomatoes are over-ripe and won't hold their shape when cut then you can always just invert them over a bowl and gently squeeze. Most seeds will squeeze out. Hope this helps. Dave
...See More
Questions about planting garlic
Q
Comments (4)
I don't soak the cloves at all and they do fine. Garlic has great anti-microbial action all on its own --- it is an AWESOME medicinal food. I can't imagine soaking is really necessary or helpful at all. FataMorgana
...See More
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
11 years ago
Just for fun, the next time you try the same recipe:

Use peeled garlic and put them in three or four cheese cloth packets and place them in different spots.

dcarch
Jasdip
11 years ago
We love chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. One recipe says to use unpeeled cloves. I peel them all anyway. They meld so nicely with the chicken and the potatoes. Just heaven.

I'd peel them.

Your recipe sounds good. Will you post it, or the link?
User
Original Author
11 years ago
dcarch & jasdip, I think the next time I make the dish I'll try a hybrid of your suggestions. It's a treat to have the unpeeled garlic cloves to spread on bread, so I'll separate the 4 garlic heads and put 1/4 of the cloves (the largest ones) in a cheese cloth packet. Then I'll peel the cloves from the other 3 & keep those in with the vegetables. Hope it results in the best of both worlds.

jasdip, can't do it tonight, but I will post the recipe.
coconut_nj
11 years ago
I'd probably string the smaller cloves on toothpicks, since I think the big ones are pretty easy to spot. Some people might think toothpicks a problem but I think they'd work fine. Maybe just two per toothpick. One on each end of the toothpicks, pierced into the stem end of the cloves.
John Liu
11 years ago
Put peeled garlic in the dish, roast unpeeled cloves on the side to squeeze out later.

Related Stories

COOL-SEASON CROPS Cool-Season Vegetables: How to Grow Garlic

By Marianne Lipanovich

Beloved in a wide range of dishes the world over, garlic thrives in a fall garden and is easy to grow

FUN HOUZZ Everything I Need to Know About Decorating I Learned from Downton Abbey

Mind your manors with these 10 decorating tips from the PBS series, returning on January 5

MOST POPULAR 8 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Meeting With Your Designer

By Kelli Kaufer Designs

Thinking in advance about how you use your space will get your first design consultation off to its best start

TASTEMAKERS 5 Questions From ICFF: Lindsey Adelman

By Vanessa Brunner

The inventive designer takes a break from New York's International Contemporary Furniture Fair to talk about her artistic lighting fixtures

ORGANIZING Pre-Storage Checklist: 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Store

By Laura Gaskill

Wait, stop. Do you really need to keep that item you’re about to put into storage?

GREEN BUILDING Considering Concrete Floors? 3 Green-Minded Questions to Ask

By Melanie Loftus

Learn what’s in your concrete and about sustainability to make a healthy choice for your home and the earth

REMODELING GUIDES Considering a Fixer-Upper? 15 Questions to Ask First

By Sarah Phipps Design

Learn about the hidden costs and treasures of older homes to avoid budget surprises and accidentally tossing valuable features

EXTERIORS Curb Appeal Feeling a Little Off? Some Questions to Consider

By Becky Harris

Color, scale, proportion, trim ... 14 things to think about if your exterior is bugging you

REMODELING GUIDES 9 Hard Questions to Ask When Shopping for Stone

By Ventana Construction LLC

Learn all about stone sizes, cracks, color issues and more so problems don't chip away at your design happiness later

WORKING WITH PROS 10 Questions to Ask Potential Contractors

By Ventana Construction LLC

Ensure the right fit by interviewing general contractors about topics that go beyond the basics

Sponsored

Dave Fox Design Build Remodelers

49 Reviews

Columbus Area's Luxury Design Build Firm | 17x Best of Houzz Winner!

More Discussions

Musings On Calorie Restriction Cooking

78

Do you make actual shortcake?

39

Does anyone forage? Wild food favorites

15

A crisp not too sweet gluten free cookie/biscuit

11

Mother and Child Reunion?

1