Last week on Instagram, our founder Chris Kimball made quite a stir with a deeply-held conviction: everybody’s wrong about pressing garlic. (Don’t do it!) Over 1,000 commenters wrote in with their takes, some in steadfast agreement, others in staunch defense of the garlic press.
“Using a garlic press increases the surface area of the garlic, thus allowing more garlic flavor to be imparted into the oil,” one wrote. “If pressing garlic is wrong, I don’t want to be right,” another added.
The Sun noticed the debate and picked it up.
To be clear, the case against pressing garlic is not to eliminate garlic flavor, only garlic breath. Smashing, rather than pressing, reduces the enzymatic action which leads to releasing an abundance of the pungent-smelling, sulfur-containing compound allicin. In small doses, allicin is good (and healthy). In large doses, it will leave garlic on the breath and overpower all of the other ingredients.
“When it comes to garlic you just want a scent,” writes Rolando Beramendi in his cookbook "Autentico." "When making sauces, keep the cloves whole, but crush them with the side of a chef's knife."
Others go further. "The unbalanced use of garlic is the single greatest cause of failure in would-be Italian cooking," Marcella Hazan has said. In her 1992 book "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking," she wrote that "the sodden pulp it produces is acrid in flavor and cannot even be sautéed properly."
Even Anthony Bourdain planted a flag on the issue in his memoir "Kitchen Confidential." In his words:
"Misuse of garlic is a crime. Old garlic, burnt garlic, garlic cut too long ago and garlic that has been tragically smashed through one of those abominations, the garlic press, are all disgusting. Please treat your garlic with respect. Sliver it for pasta, like you saw in Goodfellas; don't burn it. Smash it, with the flat of your knife blade if you like, but don't put it through a press."
If not from Chris, we’ll take it from the experts.
For more on how we use garlic here at Milk Street, check out our garlic 101—plus how to peel it, how to poach it, and how to mellow it.
Watch and share your take on Instagram.
