Garlic Presses - What do you like?

[intakexhaust]

Originally Posted by jyl

Use a knife, not a press.

So true.

Incredible how many worthless kitchen gadgets are out there. Perhaps time for a Pelican kitchen 'go / no-go' thread?

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by vash

let me go and take a pic of the "cup" one my sister gave me..she swears it dominates over any press.

Do!

[sand_man]

I have the Kuhn. It does work well. And I think it came highly recommended from America's Test Kitchen. However, lately I've just been slicing it very very thinly (almost translucent) with one of my small kitchen knives. A Microplane also works well;sort of grates it (watch those finger tips). And of course there's the tried and true, smash and chop as was mentioned before.

[sand_man]

I do think that pressed garlic can overwhelm a dish if you aren't careful. I think that's why I've gone back to using a knife. The salt trick is one that I use when making a caesar dressing.

[Don Ro]

I lived with an Italian woman for two years...she could open empty kitchen cabinets and make a world class meal.
That woman was an unreal cook!
.
She did this:
.

[willtel]

I use one of these:

Amazon.com: NexTrend 3rd Generation Green Garlic Twist: Garlic Presses: Kitchen & Dining



Our old garlic press was a pain to clean and held water inside the handles after washing it. I was happy when it broke at the hinge and couldn't see paying $50+ for nice replacment.

[sand_man]

One other thing I'll mention about the Kuhn press, is that I have pinched the flesh of my hands in between the handles before.

That Goodfellas scene always cracks me up. But I find that method gets the right garlic flavor for me.

[winders]

Originally Posted by Tobra

I am extra lazy. I roast the garlic whole without removing anything, cut the top of it off and squeeze the roasted garlic paste into a little glass jar. No chopping, no smashing, just delicious roasted garlic.

This gives you a whole different garlic product. When you roast the garlic whole, the alliinase does not come in contact with alliin which means the allicin and other sulfur compounds are not formed.

The paste you get would not be the same as the paste you would get from squashing garlic cloves.

[vash]

Will has the one I was gonna take a pic of!

[5String43]

Oh, man - I've bought three different ones now and I'm about to surrender to the inevitable of just chopping garlic, as recommended above. All the ones I've tried are a pain in the a55 to clean, have the leverage all wrong, or both.

[Don Ro]

Thanks gents, for all your input.
I'll poop around a bit and see what I want to do.
.

[masraum]

Over the years, I've had a few presses that ended up being crap, hard to clean, broke where the handles joined, etc....

I finally bought the Kuhn Rikon, but I, unfortunately, ended up with the plastic handled version. It still works pretty well, but I think you lose some of the crushing power due to flex of the handles. But it is much better to clean than any of the others and seems to work well despite the plastic handles.

mmmm, garlic, yummy.

I've never seen so much garlic used as when I was in Southern Spain near Jerez. I swear EVERYTHING had garlic in it except the Sangria.

This is how it was sold in the grocery stores.





I didn't even see any individual bulbs like we usually get here at grocery stores.

[tabs]

Should we care about any of this?

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by winders

This gives you a whole different garlic product. When you roast the garlic whole, the alliinase does not come in contact with alliin which means the allicin and other sulfur compounds are not formed.

The paste you get would not be the same as the paste you would get from squashing garlic cloves.

I know

[winders]

Originally Posted by tabs

Should we care about any of this?

If you use garlic in food you should.....

[sand_man]

Originally Posted by masraum

i've never seen so much garlic used as when i was in southern spain near jerez. I swear everything had garlic in it except the sangria.

Now that's funny!

[dyusem]

I purchased this for my Italian wife and she gave it two thumbs up.

FWIW, I can chime in that it is very easy to properly clean for her next incredible creation.

Originally Posted by sand_man

I have the Kuhn. It does work well. And I think it came highly recommended from America's Test Kitchen. However, lately I've just been slicing it very very thinly (almost translucent) with one of my small kitchen knives. A Microplane also works well;sort of grates it (watch those finger tips). And of course there's the tried and true, smash and chop as was mentioned before.

[Paul_Heery]

Originally Posted by Don Ro

This one? What's so special about it? Not being an ass...just a Q.
.
Amazon.com: Kuhn Rikon Epicurean Garlic Press: Kitchen & Dining

I was doing a search on Amazon and found another listing for the product linked above. It is the same item, but it is only $38.33 versus $49.95 in the above listing.
Amazon.com: Kuhn Rikon Epicurean Garlic Press: Kitchen & Dining

I looked it up on the Kuhn Rikon website and they only make one all stainless-steel garlic press. So, if anyone is considering buying one, you may want to save $11.62.

[Don Ro]

Thanks for that, Paul.

[imcarthur]

Hand cutting garlic? No. I gave that up years ago when I got this:



From Henckel. It was a gift ~15 years ago & it works very well. To clean: rinse with water immediately after use & use a pointy knife to get the pulp from the corners. It only takes seconds . . . and I use a lot of garlic.

Ian