I sometimes think about a world where garlic is expensive. Like truffle expensive. Garlic is something I’d pay quite a lot for so I’m really grateful it’s something really affordable.
I can't wait for a world where truffles become cheap, every day ingredients. I can't even imagine how that would impact home cooking. I'm sure one day someone will find a way to economically grow truffles, like how apparently there's some new company that's found a way to produce caviar for cheap.
Ethan, if you're curious about whether it's worth the extra work to pull together a video like this, I'll put it this way: I'm a home cook along with probably most of your viewers, and this is the only garlic video I'll ever need. You answered all of my questions and broke it down in such a crisp way. 10/10 video.
I love the tests Ethan does in his videos. Even though it's only one person's testing, the results are really fun to follow along. Trying out some of this stuff at home really makes you a much better cook.
I tried the Graza olive oil using the code specifically because I was grateful for the extra work & know affiliate marketing & supporting sponsors is the best way to monetarily show your support to most content creators! Truly appreciate your work! I'll post an update in a week or so on how the Graza compares honestly for you all.
I'm so glad Ethan has found a niche in the cooking world on RUclips, and that's he's done it by creating educational, evidence based deep dives on ingredients we use on a daily basis. Bravo and congrats man!
Yes! I was captivated by some of the beautiful shots in this video too. The 2 second clip of chopping the minced garlic, or the spread near the end with the spoon, bowl, knife, etc. was such a nice little touch. He's improved a lot in these little style touches that add personality to his videos.
REALLY LOVED this video!!! I am a garlic farmer myself, and as such, this was very enlightening. I would love to see you do an episode comparing different varieties of garlic. Most people assume garlic is garlic, but there are dozens of different types, each with their own flavor profiles. Just like a granny smith apple is much different than a red delicious or a mac, you will notice very enjoyable flavor and aroma differences between the different garlic varieties. I grew a softneck variety called Inchillium Red last year, and it has a subtle nutty flavor, without the harshness of the stronger pungent garlics - perfect for spreads, and eating raw, it is unlike any garlic I've ever tasted before. The other type I grow is Music, which is a very large hardneck variety, with strong pungent garlic flavor, perfect for roasting. There are literally dozens of varieties, and each has it's own personality.
I second this. Ethan needs a part two highlighting the diversity in garlic types. There's another whole video in that, and that video will include crossing different world cultures/cuisines.
Haha, yes! I also was a garlic farmer- grew 92 varieties. There are so many out there. We used to do blind taste tests of roasted garlic. There were huge differences in it roasted. Some were like mashed potatoes and not nice at all, and others were so tasty. My ultimate favourite was Limburgh- but we lost it all to white rot. One day I will need to get that variety back.
Just remove the extra acid from your recipe and it tastes the same Can't really use it for garlic bread or something simple but if its in a stew or something you can't tell
Wow...who knew I would be fascinated by a 44 minute video about garlic?!? I learned a ton, and can't thank you enough for doing all this work for us viewers. I use garlic in my competition chili, and I have definitely changed my stance on how I will use garlic going forward! Keep up the great work on your channel...
Seriously, only Ethan can get me to sit down and watch a video of almost 44 minutes just purely on garlic. Thank you for these long form videos, I love them!
@@MichaelRei99 uh oh, it's the garlic king himself. The one born into this world with the all mighty garlic knowledge. You inherently have no idea what inherently means Mr. Garlic.
I think granulated garlic definitely has its place, it’s just not the same place where one would use fresh garlic. It’s not a substitute, but a different ingredient entirely.
Thank you! I am an Irish girl (by way of Montana) married to an Italian (from San Francisco). In our 50 years of marriage, I have learned by trial and error what you have so well articulated in this video! But one thing I also learned is that the easiest way to peel garlic cloves is to put them on the counter and whack them with the cutting board before slicing or mincing. I'm old. I don't want to take a chance by whacking a knife, and time is precious! Life, and garlic, is good!
Or use a silicone tube, pop in a clove or two and roll with downward pressure on the counter for 3-4 seconds, then shake out the peeled garlic. Magic with no danger!
Have to say i love the thorough 40 min video in one part compared to it being broken up into 2-3 10-20 min videos. Feels a lot better for me to sit down and watch the whole thing and get as much out of it as I can
Pro tip for my fellow celiacs: wheat flour is often used in small amounts as an anti-caking agent in garlic powder, and/or is present on the machinery used for grinding. Sticking with fresh garlic is by far the safest option for us.
This is true. It is usually listed on the label as cellulose, which is also a very popular ingredient in medication (in order to bind the pills together). Also, for those with corn allergy, another popular anti-caking agent is cornstarch. Basically, if you've got a major allergy, you have to learn to read the labels and question each ingredient.
@@fieryvalewhich I wish everyone would learn to do regardless. I don't have any allergies but started doing so just because I like learning and it is useful to know what I am eating.
@@jash21222 Unfortunately, I know from painful experience that cellulose is indeed often derived from wheat. Wheat is not composed of carbohydrates only.
hey so i have an eating disorder that sometimes makes it hard to motivate to eat enough or well, and i wanted to say i'm enjoying the secondary benefit of your videos which is making me want to cook and eat food when i didn't at the time. thanks!
aye, thats cool; understand the struggle (diagnosed with anorexia nervousa and disordered eating 7 years ago), its difficult - appreciate you sharing 🔥, i actually put this video on to help while i was cooking ksnsbsbs
I love this style of educational cooking video. Helping home cooks make choices rather than convince them "why you should only ever use x ingredient" is really cool.
Someone give this man an award or something! You can tell how much hard work you put into these. I’m not very good at learning just by reading. So these videos help me out so much. To think we wouldn’t have had RUclips just years ago, I feel like I’m in the right place at the right time! Thank you for doing what you do!
I know on his podcast Adam Ragusea said he has started using frozen cubes of minced garlic when he was in a rush. He said that was the best way to preserve the allicin. This was an awesome in depth video. Maybe throwing the test of fresh vs frozen garlic could be a decent addition to some other video. I would love a video on fresh vs frozen vegetables as I know frozen vegetables often retain their vitamin content more than fresh vegetables but lose a big texture component
@@hallaloth3112 Years ago one of Adam's first big youtube hits was asking this same question. He gave a food scientist and his wife multiple pieces of garlic bread made with different forms of garlic and asked them to rate each. Throughout each test he explained in the voiceover about why each method produced wildly different results and the science behind them.
This extensive tutorial on garlic is by far the best of the hundreds of food videos I have ever seen. I can see how much thought and professional experience went into creating and producing this wonderful garlic study. Thank you! Also, I want to make the cilantro chicken dish.
Just a note on the prepeeled bags... If you have a large family, they are quite helpful. I cook at least 5 large meals a week (I am of Cuban back round) that use a lot of garlic. I use on average 2 bags a week. They don't have time to go bad and it saves a real amount of time per day.
If you want to peel a lot of cloves at once, put the cloves into a tupper-ware box, close it and shake it really hard. All the cloves will have lost their skin.
I resorted to buying frozen minced garlic, it's fresh then flash frozen and tastes and probably is fresh garlic all prepped and ready to rip. I use Dorot brand if anybody's curious.
A big thank you to everyone involved with this productions, much appreciated. This will definitely change the way I choose the type of garlic for a dish. In the past, I would simply use what was on hand. If I didn't have fresh, it was jar. If I didn't have fresh or jar, it was granulated.
This whole video felt like I opened a gastronomic textbook and went through the chapter on garlic. That was amazing. I would love to see one of these for spicy foods and irritants.
As a garlic girl, this is a great video. Not just because it's about garlic (it's still a large contributor lol) but because of the amount of work that has gone into each question and the beautiful editing. Thanks Ethan and the team ❤
Also a garlic girl here! And I'm excited to share a trick I just learned. Heat some freshly minced garlic in olive oil (you can even use a microwave) until it just begins browning (don't burn it). Strain the oil, put the sizzled garlic bits on a paper towel. You use the now garlic-flavored olive oil to sauté your veg or whatever, then sprinkle the crispy sizzled garlic bits on top of the finished dish. It's like bacon bits for garlic lovers. I can't believe I've lived half my life not doing this.
As much as I love garlic, I thought no way would I watch almost 44 minutes of which garlic tastes better; here I am over 44 minutes later subscribed and wanting more. Excellent video.
As a "decent" cook myself I really enjoy watching your videos. It fills the niche between simple step by step cooking and complicated, sometimes too heavy cooking courses. You and Adam Ragusea are my go to channels for perfect kitchen science, cooking techniques and entertainment balance. You are taking us for a journey from "this taste good" cooks to the "this taste good and I know why" chefs. Keep up the good work!
I pull fresh garlic bulbs out if ground in the fall. I cut off the stalks, next I shake off the dirt and put them in brown paper bags. I have a bottom drawer in my frig in the back enclosed porch. I can keep them there or store outside of frig to dry .. The garlic stays good all winter. Any leftovers not used can be replanted.
@@bioemilianoif I’m cooking things with a lot of garlic sometimes I will buy peeled cloves in 1kg vacuum sealed bags, and sometimes I don’t get through them fast enough and freeze some of them.
I'd love for you to cover black garlic more, or maybe an episode on foods that completely change after long term heating like the black garlic, Sauna eggs etc.
I've been waiting for you to mention the option to freeze prepilled garlic and then only pulling out the cloves you need immediately. We also sometimes mince out garlic and then freeze it - pulling out cubes/chunks you need only. That's what we use in our Korean cooking and it's still fairly pungent depending on the dish
I always have a lot of frozen, peeled garlic cloves in a zipper bag in the freezer. It is excellent to have on hand and works great in stews, spaghetti sauces or any other sauce. It is not great for when you would use fresh, raw garlic, such as in a vinaigrette or tzatziki sauce. Mincing fresh garlic and then freezing it in olive oil in a small sized ice cube tray is also very useful. Once frozen, the cubes can be dumped into a zipper bag and kept in the freezer for months, making it easy to take out a few cubes to toss in your dish when cooking.
You should try really fresh (green) spring purple garlic. In this case you can eat the whole plant and it is really tasty. Also try traditional aïoli sauce: egg yolk, garlic crushed in a mortar and olive oil, salt pepper and that's all.
bro... holy moly. This video was obviously a huge undertaking, and I just want to say thank you to you and your team. Y'all are doing the internet a real service with this educational content! Keep up the great work!
Can you make a pt 2 about freezing aromatics. Many Korean households bulk mince/blend/crush garlic and freeze them into little cubes. Do you think this holds up the garlic flavours compared to fresh garlic when freezing. Would love to see your take on this.
Just one thing, you forgot to test frozen garlic! It's flash frozen to preserve the allicin. I haven't tried it side by side but I haven't noticed a difference and it's so convenient.
You can even freeze your own garlic break the head apart but don’t peel it put it in freezer bags and then in the freezer container cause you know you don’t want everything to smell like garlic. But then when you take it out of the freezer it peels very easily and it’s like having fresh garlic without the risk of it spoiling.
I freeze my own, and it’s SO interesting and tasty. I open it and it smells fresh. Same with my onions. My dad actually preferred my frozen onions to the store bought frozen ones, as it had a better smell. It’s been frozen for several months. I buy a big bag of onions and a bunch of garlic, chop it all and freeze it separately. I also freeze ground ginger because I use it for smoothies.
Came here for this comment. My wife and I actually did a side-by-side with fresh v frozen cloves for garlic bread and couldn't tell the difference. I even started buying and freezing those pre-peeled bags Ethan throws away, which admittedly aren't quite as pungent, but theyre great for supporting character roles.
@1betterthanyou1 it does dry out so not spoiling in the traditional sense but I have thrown out garlic that was no longer usable. Also this lasts virtually forever.
Story time regarding garlic using pungent chemicals to deter animals from eating it: I eat raw garlic about once a week for health reasons and because I just like garlic. Usually I give the clove a few chomps and then chase it with water. One day I wondered what would happen if I crushed it in my garlic crusher (which essentially turns it into a minced paste) and then ate it that way. I mixed it with some honey in a spoon and swallowed it. It was delicious! I thought this was going to be my new way to get my raw garlic. The next time I couldn't find the honey bottle and I was in a rush so I put the crushed garlic right into my mouth. IMMEDIATELY I began having a bodily reaction as if I had been poisoned. An absolute waterfall of saliva started spilling from my mouth which caused me to spit the garlic out right away. It was literally just a steady stream - I had to lean over the sink. My stomach started cramping and lurching painfully, trying to force food out of my stomach. This was way beyond nausea. It was like someone hit an ejector button. I didn't even know my abdominal muscles could contract like this. It also gave me a strange ache-y feeling in my arms and legs. This was all over in less than 10 minutes but it was wild considering I swallowed zero garlic and it was in my mouth for about 5 seconds at the most. I think I just got too much allicin too fast and my body went into poison mode! (it wasn't tainted because I had eaten several cloves from that head and still ate the rest with no issue.) Now when I eat raw garlic I stick to just eating the whole cloves. It does make me wonder if a smaller mammal would be more likely to experience this "faux toxicity" effect with garlic.
I think this might be why vets say garlic is toxic to dogs and cats! They probably can’t handle the allicin. PSA don’t give your dogs scraps of food containing garlic!
One of the best things to consume is garlic fermented in honey. You just cover peeled garlic in honey and let it ferment and burp in a dark cabinet. Safe to eat and healthy and delicious
IIRC, this is part of why cats can not safely have garlic or onion. I almost lost my elderly cat because they got into a garden vegetable flavored cream cheese spread. It had a lot of garlic and onion that his vet said not only cause 3 days of digestive issues but also damaged his kidneys. So yes, your theory is probably correct.
I think maybe it’s that kind of reaction that makes garlic and other alliums difficult for some people to eat and digest. My SIL gets very sick from garlic and onions. She can’t eat them at all. A lot of people have bad reactions to alliums. It’s one of the foods in a FODMAP- certain types of carbohydrates that are difficult for some people to digest. They can cause a lot of digestive problems and trigger IBS and other digestive disorders. There’s a low FODMAP diet and even a line of condiments called FODY that don’t have FODMAPs in them. Ketchup is considered a low FODMAP food in small amounts, but a lot of people adore ketchup and eat larger amounts when they have ketchup. Plus ketchup is an ingredient in a lot of delicious sauces. So this company made a version that a lot of people can digest. I myself haven’t been diagnosed with a condition that requires a low FODMAP diet and hope I don’t have to have an even more restricted diet. I have chronic pancreatitis, and while I can eat onions (cooked or caramelized is easier to digest although I can eat small amounts of raw onions if I’m having a good day) too much garlic makes me nauseated and causes stomach cramps. Which is painful because my pancreas is already tender and inflamed (I’ve been lucky that I have recovered from all my acute pancreatitis flares and only once had a small amount of necrotic tissue that resolved itself. The body is an amazing machine.)
I quite like whole clove pickled garlic such as is sometimes found in supermarket deli olive bars. They have a satisfying crunch of raw, but without the pain.
I would love to see a video exploring how much different forms of chicken stock/broth matter in common cooking dishes. I love to make my own chicken stock when I make dishes like risotto or soup but does it matter if you use store-bought, homemade, jarred (bouillon), etc? Maybe Ethan will make a video about it..
I played this while I prepared dinner by myself and it was so therapeutic. Ethan please make more long explanation videos like this! The combination of food and science are my favorites and I really appreciate your details to every single variable.
Totally agree. Ethan has changed the way I cook like no other cooking show, recipe book, or RUclips cook has. I actually look forward to his weekly newsletter because it will be worth the read.
Thanks for this! I remember reading in Paul Prudhomme's original "Louisiana Cooking" book that he always used both fresh and dehydrated garlic and onion because he knew they do indeed add different elements of flavors, as you discovered.
There are a lot of great cooking videos that tell you perfectly correct ways of doing things, but you're one of the best at explaining WHY to us nerds that care about such things. SCIENCE TASTES AWESOME!
Honestly these deep dives into foods in a very easy to understand and relate to format make this channel pure gold. I enjoy this and btw i spent too long in the balsamic vinegar aisle after i watched that video!
It's really inspired work & so darn entertaining! I enjoy the silliness & subtle humor mixed in, the zeal with which he devours food. And lately Ethan has had some really cool guests.
I love garlicky dishes and I love this video! Thank you so much for being the taste tester. Such a big sacrifice! And thank you for so much useful information. Cilantro chicken will be this Sunday's dinner, for sure. And yes, please make more videos like this one.
I'm making it for dinner tonight! How was it?? I tried looking up other recipes for "cilantro chicken" (got nothing but like salsa-y chicken dishes) and Dhaniya chicken, which is the proper Indian version of his dish and it had a LOT more going into it - a lot more ingredients that I don't have laying around the house, so I bought the ingredients for his more simple version. :) Going to serve oer basmati rice
Frozen garlic is quite a good substitute for anything which doesn't require the freshest taste. It even has a bit of the bite and spiciness when eaten directly. You have to use more of it because it essentially tastes like precut garlic after maybe 15 minutes of waiting around but for Aglio olio, I'm mostly using this one now.
I made a pork souvlaki with fresh grated garlic, and one with the jarred garlic. The fresh garlic made it so much better. All of his tests were very accurate.
Videos like this are what keep me coming back to the channel. While it's true there's no substitute for simply trying a lot of recipes and experimenting yourself, understanding the _how_ and the _why_ of each ingredient affords you enormous leeway to not only get it 'right', but to customize things just-so to your own tastes. You provide an invaluable service, sir. Pray continue.
Wow...who knew I would be fascinated by a 44 minute video about garlic?!? I learned a ton, and can't thank you enough for doing all this work for us viewers. I use garlic in my competition chili, and I have definitely changed my stance on how I will use garlic going forward! Keep up the great work on your channel...🤩
i super love that you go so in depth on all of these food mechanics, like how they are affected by different temperatures, cooking times, combinations with water oil and other compounds. Alot of cooking media only says how to do stuff, this actually tests and explains the WHY we do them, which is so valuable and gives so much more confidence and room for experimenting in the kitchen.
I queued this video up three months ago and left the tab open unwatched because it was 44 minutes long, but I'm incredibly glad I actually watched it now. This video may be long, but it does not in any way waste your time. It actually teaches you an incredible amount about garlic in a much shorter amount of time than it has any right cramming it all into. This is like 2 hours worth of solid culinary content reduced down for your convenience, and you should take advantage of this resource.
I'd love to see you try frozen crushed garlic. I buy it from Trader Joe's and find it tastes the most like fresh, outside of fresh itself. When I'm too lazy to peel and mince garlic myself (most of the time), I grab the frozen stuff.
My mom uses this stuff! The trick is probably in flash freezing right after chopping so the compounds don’t have time to fully mix and the scent doesn’t have time to dissipate
ethan could you make a home-made mayo episode? where you compare it to store-bought, and then compare different recipes for example whole eggs vs. only yolks, or acid types, or different flavors, or how can you make it lower calorie etc. to find the most attainable recipe for the homecook :)
One of my favorites of all your videos. It's a deep dive on the flavors of a single ingredient while sneakily showing me how to make three different dishes that all utilize fresh, delicious ingredients.
Wow, thankyou for putting this together. I really appreciate the time you and the team spent. Ethan is answering the questions that we always have at the back of our minds! Liked and Subscribed!
Fantastic Video. I’m surprised you didn’t experiment with the frozen crushed/grated garlic cubes you can buy or make. I would love to know more about if freezing can halt or dramatically, slow the degradation. Maybe an entire episode of fresh vs frozen aromatics…
I buy the huge bag of peeled garlic from Costco and it immediately goes in the freezer. It’s how my mom kept garlic, too. You get the ease of not needing to peel garlic with (imo) the flavors of fresh. The cloves definitely do lose some of their virtue over time, but kept whole like that it’s much slower than crushed.
@lynoreabbott1010 I often use frozen onions. They are lifesavers if you have run out of onions and are making a stew or something that needs onions. If I need to saute them I use ghee or dripping because of the high smoke point. In short, frozen onions are great for cooking, but not salads.
Which of the dehydrated forms of garlic you should use also depends on the way you are using it. I use granulated garlic like most people use salt, and is a quick way to boost the garlic taste while cooking without having to add more fresh. I prefer powdered when I am making my own trail mixes and rubs it just mixes in better. I like to use the chopped form in soups and stews for the ease of use.
This was fascinating. I don't think I've ever seen a better takedown on the character of garlic, and the questions of "what flavor do I want from my garlic?" and "is it a main or supporting player?" I'm adding to my everyday cooking. Really solid work.
Hey Ethan, love your long form videos! I would appreciate it if you could make an episode on butter. I am really confused with different butters out there, regular, churned, grass-fed, European, Irish etc. I wonder if expensive butters are worth the price.
If you buy pre peeled cloves, store the cloves covered in olive oil in a glass jar in the refrigerator. Keeps them from molding. You will need to bring the olive oil to room temp to liquify the oil. Or store in a dark jar or wrapped in foil on your counter.
@@GreenWitch1 Sorry but real olive oil can and does freeze. Likely because it was close to the freezer compartment. Olive oil has a freezing point of 42 degrees. Variations in the fatty acid compositions of different olive oils affect when it freezes. But now I keep my oil bottle on the counter with the cloves in it, so it doesn’t freeze.
@@slc1161 keep it in the fridge. Room temp olive oil is a great way for botulism to fester in garlic. You can supposedly prevent it by adding some acid to it (like lemon juice) but I'm not taking the risk on that. This is why all commercially available garlic oils have an acid additive.
Thank you for taking the time, and making the effort to make this video. My experience with garlic products fits right in with your conclusions. As a home cook, I started limiting myself to fresh garlic and granulated several years ago. My rule of thumb has been, "Granulated garlic brings out other flavors. Fresh garlic provides garlic flavor and aroma." This was the first of your videos I've watched. You now have another subscriber. Thanks again.
Loving this type of videoes and appreciate the effort and time that inevitably goes into producing such articulate information about just a single ingredient. I imagine you were like most of us before the video - not really informed about much else about garlic than the taste, smell and how it grows. It must have taken heavy work to research and put together this whole thing. Thanks dude ❤
Whats the point of prepeeling garlic and freezing it? Garlic can already sit for weeks why put it freezer? It's not like you are saving time. You are wasting more time as you spend time of peeling + putting into freezer + taking it out of the freezer + you endup shuffle it in freezer when you are searching for something else. In contrast if you don't prepeel you only spending time on peeling and nothing else. You muricans always come up with absolutely pointless weird cooking ideas.
@@sk-sm9shFor the point of clarity since I think you've missed their point, they're not prepeeling it themselves, they're buying prepeeled garlic from the store and then freezing it. Therefore saving the time of peeling it when you want to use it. For me however, I'd always use fresh garlic since unless I'm using an absolutely ungodly amount of garlic in a dish I don't find peeling garlic that onerous.
@@nathanberridge7321 I forgot about that indeed thanks for reminding me about it. I learned about the fact that peeled garlic even exists some time ago from Netflix series "big garlic" where they showcased garlics being peeled in Chinese prisons. USA never stops to amaze me lol. In Europe you will not find prepeeled garlic as you will not find idiot to buy it. Not in my scariest dreams would I had imagined that anyone would buy prepeeled garlic let alone that it's such large scale businesses that it make sense to get Chinese prisoners to work for free to peel them. Absolute madness. Garlic is like the easiest thing ever to peel. Smack it one time hard and it pops out. Not only it is so easy it is also satisfying. In contrast prepeeled garlic already lost some of its fragrance so you endup using more cloves. And in some situations you don't even need to peel just smack it one time hard and throw it right on oil with the shell let it cook to release fragrance and remove it. The best of garlic fragrance is in the more outer white of garlic but the part that is difficult to digest is in the core - gourmet restaurants go through effort to split garlic clove in half and then remove the inner core of the white. Now prepeeling already loses fragrance but freezing is going to reduce it even more. Also I bet that prepeeled garlic they use cheapest lowest quality garlics as input for prepeel so they also have less fragrance than good quality garlic. In the end after prepeeling lowest quality garlic then taking them over pacific ocean then freezing and then defrosting it I wonder if there is still any garlic taste left at all. And if it has lost fragrance why even put it in your food at all - it's not easy to digest and you endup farting garlicy smell if you eat too many cloves. In contrast if you use good garlic in moderation it adds fragrance to food without giving bad smell nor bad farts.
@@sk-sm9sh I'd imagine it's primarily for the convenience, but it could also be useful for people who have trouble with their hands - arthritis for example, where peeling small, fiddly objects like garlic could be far more time consuming and potentially even painful.
Ethan - you’re like the Alton Brown of RUclips cooking shows! One thing that’s helped make using fresh garlic much more convenient for me, is using a good quality garlic press where you don’t have the peel the clove beforehand!
Peeling a garlic clove is "inconvenient"..? You give those things a good ol' whack with your fist on to the flat side of a kitchen knife and they practically _peel themselves._ What the hell.
I cook for nearly 2 dozen people daily. The prepeeled garlic really means I use more garlic. A peeled clove going into a press takes seconds. When you have to do a whole head it makes a big difference in prep time. When you got 3-4 onions, a couple peppers, a head of garlic, and dozens of other ingredients as well as timing everything. It really makes a difference. If it was just a normal size family, whole garlic every time. Many times, I use whole fresh cloves, prepeeled gloves, and powdered together in the same recipe. They all have different flavors. I usually do multiple additions at different times too. Even if I were using only fresh garlic, I'd still time my additions to give the different aspects of garlic at different levels of cooking. A couple in with the onions, a couple in a minute or two out, and a couple just before moving to the next step.
This is exactly the kind of content I hope to see. I follow a lot of food RUclipsrs, but when I want culinary science distilled into a digestible format as it applies to my kitchen in a practical sense, you are the expert.
One chef that I admire recommends that when you chop or dice your garlic, to let it sit for ten minutes to let it denature and develop its flavors. I tried it but wasn't impressed, but I got into the habit of crushing my garlic, then letting it sit for ten to fifteen minutes, then slicing or dicing, which seem to give me the best of both worlds. Thanks for putting this out. I tend to only purchase diced garlic, then using a grinder to either granulate or make into a powder. I definitely like the overall taste better. I thank you for putting out this video.
I think you missed a really great substitute for fresh garlic. Frozen garlic cubes in individual blister packs. As far as I know, only one company makes them (ginger as well) and it is AMAZING, with no fuss. Looking forward to a taste test including this new grocery item!
Try the frozen garlic cubes. I'd love to see your results on this because it knocks the pants off any other pre-prepared one I have had. Even the store bought version, but it is easy to make at home (and common in Indian cuisine, though often with ginger)!
I make frozen garlic butter. The thing with spices is, it takes oil and salt or you won't taste them. So I just once a month put a few sticks of butter in a rice warmer (on the warm setting) and put in a BUNCH of garlic. Then I refreeze in an ice cube tray. This means that not only do you get the garlic and butter when you put a cube into whatever you're making... also, the flavor and aroma has already been actuated. I do the same thing with rosemary, and it has the added benefit of softening the rosemary so your rosemary potatoes don't have the texture of pine needles.
Loved this video. I think the only further things I'd be curious about are frozen garlic (either in cloves or minced up) and the little pre-made frozen garlic cubes that you just pop out into a dish. Definitely sold me on not using canned garlic though.
Just a quick note on the bulk peeled garlic. We buy it at Costco in a large bulk bag and throw it in the freezer, then use it as we need it. Lasts all year.
More like this please. A series or playlist of hour long videos taking DEEP dives on a particular everyday ingredient would be great for this space and cooks everywhere
This was so extremely helpful! Can you do a video comparing frozen, canned (syrup v water), and fresh fruits? I've always wondered if frozen was actually better than fresh fruit and how to properly store fruits to preserve their flavors. Bananas, berries, melons, peaches, apples, pears, tomatoes, and grapes are all some I've wondered about, especially when it comes to usage in smoothies.
In my experience frozen fruits are great in smoothies where the softer texture isn't an issue, and some are great eaten directly out of the freezer as a snack, like sweet cherries or blueberries. The main benefit of freezing is to capture the fruit at the peak of ripeness, and it involves less (or no)* cooking than canning so you don't lose as much of the vitamins, and they retain a bit more structural integrity than canned. Fresh fruit from the grocery store is often picked before it's completely ripe, so that it can travel and sit on the shelf for a while, but the frozen ones are picked riper and processed immediately, so the quality of the original fruit is often higher in frozen form. *Fruit usually doesn't need blanching before freezing but vegetables from other parts of the plant do, to stop the growth enzymes and such from doing their thing. If you just chuck your beans or carrots directly in the freezer they turn to unpleasant mush.
Ethan, Before adding granulated garlic to an acidic environment, it's better to mix it with a bit of warm fresh water, first --- otherwise the acid hydrolyzes the allinase preventing the formation of allicyn, thereby greatly affecting its taste.
One suggestion: if you buy the pre-peeled garlic cloves and don't want them to go bad is to put the unused ones in the freezer tightly wrapped to prevent freezer-burn.
Another fantastic deep dive Ethan! As a home cook I really enjoy these videos. They give me the opportunity to learn a lot and answer questions that I have, without having to do all the work that you're doing. Thanks and keep up the fantastic work!
Marvellous video, so in depth! One thing I'd like to add for people relying on convenience, is that you can bulk-prepare garlic by chucking it in a food processor and then freezing it immediately thinly spread in freezer bags. Now you can get frozen, minced garlic out of the freezer anytime. Almost as good as fresh. :)
I so feel the “irritating food is less boring”. I struggle at times with appetite and my homemade fermented pineapple habanero sauce have carried my meals big time. Adding tons of garlic to any dish helps too. Very interesting video! 🥳
I sometimes think about a world where garlic is expensive. Like truffle expensive. Garlic is something I’d pay quite a lot for so I’m really grateful it’s something really affordable.
We started some initial research on a truffle video 😉
I can't wait for a world where truffles become cheap, every day ingredients. I can't even imagine how that would impact home cooking. I'm sure one day someone will find a way to economically grow truffles, like how apparently there's some new company that's found a way to produce caviar for cheap.
@@noob19087 I think so far only one guy was able to cultivate truffles on a farm.
That bloody well depends on WHERE YOU LIVE, let me tell you
@@noob19087 No one would eat them, truffles are only sought after because their expensive
Ethan, if you're curious about whether it's worth the extra work to pull together a video like this, I'll put it this way: I'm a home cook along with probably most of your viewers, and this is the only garlic video I'll ever need. You answered all of my questions and broke it down in such a crisp way. 10/10 video.
I love the tests Ethan does in his videos. Even though it's only one person's testing, the results are really fun to follow along. Trying out some of this stuff at home really makes you a much better cook.
You said it!
Agreed
So true, just one thing missing. Warn people not to store garlic in oil without acid, otherwise potential for botulism
I tried the Graza olive oil using the code specifically because I was grateful for the extra work & know affiliate marketing & supporting sponsors is the best way to monetarily show your support to most content creators!
Truly appreciate your work!
I'll post an update in a week or so on how the Graza compares honestly for you all.
I'm so glad Ethan has found a niche in the cooking world on RUclips, and that's he's done it by creating educational, evidence based deep dives on ingredients we use on a daily basis. Bravo and congrats man!
Totally agree. Plenty of great people for solid recipes and love his different take with this format and content.
I really appreciate his effort to be unbiased, even though it would be so easy to hand wave away unexpected results.
He’s like a new mini atk and I’m here for it!
Ethan & Kenji Lopez-Alt are my 2 favorite RUclips cooking content providers. Food Wishes & Rick Bayless are great as well 👌🏼
Yes! I was captivated by some of the beautiful shots in this video too. The 2 second clip of chopping the minced garlic, or the spread near the end with the spoon, bowl, knife, etc. was such a nice little touch. He's improved a lot in these little style touches that add personality to his videos.
REALLY LOVED this video!!! I am a garlic farmer myself, and as such, this was very enlightening. I would love to see you do an episode comparing different varieties of garlic. Most people assume garlic is garlic, but there are dozens of different types, each with their own flavor profiles. Just like a granny smith apple is much different than a red delicious or a mac, you will notice very enjoyable flavor and aroma differences between the different garlic varieties. I grew a softneck variety called Inchillium Red last year, and it has a subtle nutty flavor, without the harshness of the stronger pungent garlics - perfect for spreads, and eating raw, it is unlike any garlic I've ever tasted before. The other type I grow is Music, which is a very large hardneck variety, with strong pungent garlic flavor, perfect for roasting. There are literally dozens of varieties, and each has it's own personality.
I second this.
Ethan needs a part two highlighting the diversity in garlic types.
There's another whole video in that, and that video will include crossing different world cultures/cuisines.
@@karlosj83 let's get this going brother!
Haha, yes! I also was a garlic farmer- grew 92 varieties. There are so many out there. We used to do blind taste tests of roasted garlic. There were huge differences in it roasted. Some were like mashed potatoes and not nice at all, and others were so tasty. My ultimate favourite was Limburgh- but we lost it all to white rot. One day I will need to get that variety back.
92?! Even I had no idea there were so many!@@valerierussell6867
What kind would you use for making black garlic?
A PhD in garlic and I didn't even have to pay for the course. The wonders of the internet
🎓🎓🎓
I always wanted to have PhD in garlic 😀
Certificated Garlic Graduate ✅
HONORARY!
Now we just need the diploma 🤔
My husband was thinking we should switch back to jarred garlic. I told him it's not worth it due to the lack of flavor. Thank you for backing me up.😊
🙄😂🤣
Jarred garlic has some weird backflavor too.
You should consider growing your own garlic. It's very easy, requiring almost no effort. Check out some videos on how to do it.
@@theeffete3396agree & exactly what I came out here to say. If you love fresh garlic it doesn't get much fresher than growing your own. And it's fun
fresh? do you need need to cure it?@@4thHouseOnTheRight
I was raised in a jarred garlic household. I recently started cooking with fresh garlic, and it was like opening my eyes for the first time
Same, but that childhood jarred garlic x canned mushrooms poverty combo slaps for a budget side for steaks. Nostalgic taste
Just remove the extra acid from your recipe and it tastes the same
Can't really use it for garlic bread or something simple but if its in a stew or something you can't tell
So much better. It makes a world of difference in pastas.
@@BEEFBRSKTagreed
I like all kinds of garlic for different purposes.
Wow...who knew I would be fascinated by a 44 minute video about garlic?!? I learned a ton, and can't thank you enough for doing all this work for us viewers. I use garlic in my competition chili, and I have definitely changed my stance on how I will use garlic going forward! Keep up the great work on your channel...
Would love this to become a series! Deep dives on commonly used ingredients in the kitchen :)
This already is his series though ?? Check his past videos 😊
YES. Please? Teach us about our pantries and spice cupboards!
Onions would be great to do a video on. I’d love to learn about different types of onions and when to use them.
This is already a series lol, he did olive oil and balsamic vinegar recently
Either you are farming likes or you are clueless
Seriously, only Ethan can get me to sit down and watch a video of almost 44 minutes just purely on garlic. Thank you for these long form videos, I love them!
I can’t believe you would watch a 44 minute video on something I inherently knew already. I guess you just like watching this guy.
@@MichaelRei99🤓
@@MichaelRei99 uh oh, it's the garlic king himself. The one born into this world with the all mighty garlic knowledge. You inherently have no idea what inherently means Mr. Garlic.
Truth. I can't believed I watched the whole thing. Interesting. I'd like to know though, what does anyone do with black garlic?
I‘ve just realized that this is true. What have i just watched? 😅
I think granulated garlic definitely has its place, it’s just not the same place where one would use fresh garlic. It’s not a substitute, but a different ingredient entirely.
agreed, i feel like i use it more as an umami booster
Agreed. I often use both.
It's also the only form of garlic that works well with sous vide cooking.
Spice rubs for bbq.
Thus!
Thank you! I am an Irish girl (by way of Montana) married to an Italian (from San Francisco). In our 50 years of marriage, I have learned by trial and error what you have so well articulated in this video! But one thing I also learned is that the easiest way to peel garlic cloves is to put them on the counter and whack them with the cutting board before slicing or mincing. I'm old. I don't want to take a chance by whacking a knife, and time is precious! Life, and garlic, is good!
You're not Irish, you're an american woman
Or use a silicone tube, pop in a clove or two and roll with downward pressure on the counter for 3-4 seconds, then shake out the peeled garlic. Magic with no danger!
@@pamelaspooner7183 this Australian old lady does this
@Jasmine-sw6mt grow up
I use the heel of my hand to strike the cloves. Works very well! I’ve got the silicone and it’s okay but I think it’s much easier and quicker.
Have to say i love the thorough 40 min video in one part compared to it being broken up into 2-3 10-20 min videos. Feels a lot better for me to sit down and watch the whole thing and get as much out of it as I can
THIS.
100%
I can pause a 40min vid if I must
I can't fastforward time
Holy Fuckstains, Batman!!! I agree!!!
Agree completely!
Viewers in a hurry can speed up the video. Tap the tool icon, then playback speed, then pick how fast you want to watch it.
Pro tip for my fellow celiacs: wheat flour is often used in small amounts as an anti-caking agent in garlic powder, and/or is present on the machinery used for grinding. Sticking with fresh garlic is by far the safest option for us.
Believe BADIA brand is gluten free
This is true. It is usually listed on the label as cellulose, which is also a very popular ingredient in medication (in order to bind the pills together).
Also, for those with corn allergy, another popular anti-caking agent is cornstarch.
Basically, if you've got a major allergy, you have to learn to read the labels and question each ingredient.
@@fieryvalewhich I wish everyone would learn to do regardless. I don't have any allergies but started doing so just because I like learning and it is useful to know what I am eating.
OMG that is good to know!
@@jash21222 Unfortunately, I know from painful experience that cellulose is indeed often derived from wheat. Wheat is not composed of carbohydrates only.
hey so i have an eating disorder that sometimes makes it hard to motivate to eat enough or well, and i wanted to say i'm enjoying the secondary benefit of your videos which is making me want to cook and eat food when i didn't at the time. thanks!
aye, thats cool; understand the struggle (diagnosed with anorexia nervousa and disordered eating 7 years ago), its difficult - appreciate you sharing 🔥, i actually put this video on to help while i was cooking ksnsbsbs
I love this style of educational cooking video. Helping home cooks make choices rather than convince them "why you should only ever use x ingredient" is really cool.
I'm speechless about the sheer effort and editing and b-roll of this video, this video can go as a Netflix documentary.
Absolutely! The five different examples of changing the flavour density.🙏🏽
Someone give this man an award or something! You can tell how much hard work you put into these. I’m not very good at learning just by reading. So these videos help me out so much. To think we wouldn’t have had RUclips just years ago, I feel like I’m in the right place at the right time! Thank you for doing what you do!
I absolutely love how scientific and how much research goes into your videos. Thank you!
This channel has become the best source for high quality food videos. One can only appreciate your scientific dedication and passion. Well done.
I know on his podcast Adam Ragusea said he has started using frozen cubes of minced garlic when he was in a rush. He said that was the best way to preserve the allicin. This was an awesome in depth video. Maybe throwing the test of fresh vs frozen garlic could be a decent addition to some other video. I would love a video on fresh vs frozen vegetables as I know frozen vegetables often retain their vitamin content more than fresh vegetables but lose a big texture component
completely agree!! would love to see how frozen garlic holds up in your tests! I almost always use it unless I'm making confied garlic
They should collab on a question like this.
@@hallaloth3112 Years ago one of Adam's first big youtube hits was asking this same question. He gave a food scientist and his wife multiple pieces of garlic bread made with different forms of garlic and asked them to rate each. Throughout each test he explained in the voiceover about why each method produced wildly different results and the science behind them.
Adam is exhausted with food content and just verbally meanders on his podcast. I gave it a real shot but his podcast is just awful.
@@purplegill10
And? What was the result? Did the frozen garlic pass the test?
This extensive tutorial on garlic is by far the best of the hundreds of food videos I have ever seen. I can see how much thought and professional experience went into creating and producing this wonderful garlic study. Thank you! Also, I want to make the cilantro chicken dish.
Just a note on the prepeeled bags... If you have a large family, they are quite helpful. I cook at least 5 large meals a week (I am of Cuban back round) that use a lot of garlic. I use on average 2 bags a week. They don't have time to go bad and it saves a real amount of time per day.
If you want to peel a lot of cloves at once, put the cloves into a tupper-ware box, close it and shake it really hard. All the cloves will have lost their skin.
I resorted to buying frozen minced garlic, it's fresh then flash frozen and tastes and probably is fresh garlic all prepped and ready to rip.
I use Dorot brand if anybody's curious.
A big thank you to everyone involved with this productions, much appreciated. This will definitely change the way I choose the type of garlic for a dish. In the past, I would simply use what was on hand. If I didn't have fresh, it was jar. If I didn't have fresh or jar, it was granulated.
This whole video felt like I opened a gastronomic textbook and went through the chapter on garlic. That was amazing. I would love to see one of these for spicy foods and irritants.
As a garlic girl, this is a great video. Not just because it's about garlic (it's still a large contributor lol) but because of the amount of work that has gone into each question and the beautiful editing. Thanks Ethan and the team ❤
Also a garlic girl here! And I'm excited to share a trick I just learned. Heat some freshly minced garlic in olive oil (you can even use a microwave) until it just begins browning (don't burn it). Strain the oil, put the sizzled garlic bits on a paper towel. You use the now garlic-flavored olive oil to sauté your veg or whatever, then sprinkle the crispy sizzled garlic bits on top of the finished dish. It's like bacon bits for garlic lovers. I can't believe I've lived half my life not doing this.
@@Revelwoodie😮 THANK YOU!!!
Fascinating! Thanks for all the research you've done, both academic and practical, to produce this video 😊
god I LOVE this channel. This is the kind of 40 min video essay I need! The Cook has done it again, thank you Ethan !
This. Hardcore this. 💯💯💯
As much as I love garlic, I thought no way would I watch almost 44 minutes of which garlic tastes better; here I am over 44 minutes later subscribed and wanting more. Excellent video.
me too. but now i don't have to try the jar to prove it sucks!
@@lynoreabbott1010 I've always thought the jar had no taste, now we know.
Welcome to la Familia!
As a "decent" cook myself I really enjoy watching your videos. It fills the niche between simple step by step cooking and complicated, sometimes too heavy cooking courses. You and Adam Ragusea are my go to channels for perfect kitchen science, cooking techniques and entertainment balance. You are taking us for a journey from "this taste good" cooks to the "this taste good and I know why" chefs. Keep up the good work!
I pull fresh garlic bulbs out if ground in the fall. I cut off the stalks, next I shake off the dirt and put them in brown paper bags. I have a bottom drawer in my frig in the back enclosed porch. I can keep them there or store outside of frig to dry .. The garlic stays good all winter. Any leftovers not used can be replanted.
Frozen whole cloves vs fresh would be good to see. You could also do frozen when purchased vs frozen in your own fridge after purchase vs fresh.
why would you freeze it?
@@bioemilianoif I’m cooking things with a lot of garlic sometimes I will buy peeled cloves in 1kg vacuum sealed bags, and sometimes I don’t get through them fast enough and freeze some of them.
I use frozen garlic 🧄
I prep them while still frozen
They are easier to peel
How long are they 🧄 good if frozen?
@@jennifermarlow.
Indian as in India? What's that?
I'd love for you to cover black garlic more, or maybe an episode on foods that completely change after long term heating like the black garlic, Sauna eggs etc.
I've been waiting for you to mention the option to freeze prepilled garlic and then only pulling out the cloves you need immediately. We also sometimes mince out garlic and then freeze it - pulling out cubes/chunks you need only. That's what we use in our Korean cooking and it's still fairly pungent depending on the dish
wow
I always have a lot of frozen, peeled garlic cloves in a zipper bag in the freezer. It is excellent to have on hand and works great in stews, spaghetti sauces or any other sauce. It is not great for when you would use fresh, raw garlic, such as in a vinaigrette or tzatziki sauce. Mincing fresh garlic and then freezing it in olive oil in a small sized ice cube tray is also very useful. Once frozen, the cubes can be dumped into a zipper bag and kept in the freezer for months, making it easy to take out a few cubes to toss in your dish when cooking.
Frozen garlic cloves are great suppositories to cool down with on a hot summer day
@@RimJobJesus369noted 🫡
You should try really fresh (green) spring purple garlic. In this case you can eat the whole plant and it is really tasty.
Also try traditional aïoli sauce: egg yolk, garlic crushed in a mortar and olive oil, salt pepper and that's all.
I own an heirloom garlic farm and even I learned a lot from this video. Thanks man!!
This was just like an episode of Good Eats. I loved every single second of this video. Production is insane as well!
Came here to comment this you beat me to it!
And the best part. We get to watch this for free.
bro... holy moly.
This video was obviously a huge undertaking, and I just want to say thank you to you and your team. Y'all are doing the internet a real service with this educational content! Keep up the great work!
I grow about 100 garlic heads a season. So yummy. Some ends up in salsa. Some in pasta sauce. And the majority into homemade roasted garlic hummus!
Can you make a pt 2 about freezing aromatics.
Many Korean households bulk mince/blend/crush garlic and freeze them into little cubes. Do you think this holds up the garlic flavours compared to fresh garlic when freezing. Would love to see your take on this.
Yes! Please!!!!
+1
Just one thing, you forgot to test frozen garlic! It's flash frozen to preserve the allicin. I haven't tried it side by side but I haven't noticed a difference and it's so convenient.
You can even freeze your own garlic break the head apart but don’t peel it put it in freezer bags and then in the freezer container cause you know you don’t want everything to smell like garlic. But then when you take it out of the freezer it peels very easily and it’s like having fresh garlic without the risk of it spoiling.
I freeze my own, and it’s SO interesting and tasty. I open it and it smells fresh. Same with my onions. My dad actually preferred my frozen onions to the store bought frozen ones, as it had a better smell. It’s been frozen for several months. I buy a big bag of onions and a bunch of garlic, chop it all and freeze it separately. I also freeze ground ginger because I use it for smoothies.
Came here for this comment. My wife and I actually did a side-by-side with fresh v frozen cloves for garlic bread and couldn't tell the difference. I even started buying and freezing those pre-peeled bags Ethan throws away, which admittedly aren't quite as pungent, but theyre great for supporting character roles.
@1betterthanyou1 I don't freeze it I buy it frozen from the store.
@1betterthanyou1 it does dry out so not spoiling in the traditional sense but I have thrown out garlic that was no longer usable. Also this lasts virtually forever.
Story time regarding garlic using pungent chemicals to deter animals from eating it: I eat raw garlic about once a week for health reasons and because I just like garlic. Usually I give the clove a few chomps and then chase it with water. One day I wondered what would happen if I crushed it in my garlic crusher (which essentially turns it into a minced paste) and then ate it that way. I mixed it with some honey in a spoon and swallowed it. It was delicious! I thought this was going to be my new way to get my raw garlic. The next time I couldn't find the honey bottle and I was in a rush so I put the crushed garlic right into my mouth. IMMEDIATELY I began having a bodily reaction as if I had been poisoned. An absolute waterfall of saliva started spilling from my mouth which caused me to spit the garlic out right away. It was literally just a steady stream - I had to lean over the sink. My stomach started cramping and lurching painfully, trying to force food out of my stomach. This was way beyond nausea. It was like someone hit an ejector button. I didn't even know my abdominal muscles could contract like this. It also gave me a strange ache-y feeling in my arms and legs. This was all over in less than 10 minutes but it was wild considering I swallowed zero garlic and it was in my mouth for about 5 seconds at the most. I think I just got too much allicin too fast and my body went into poison mode! (it wasn't tainted because I had eaten several cloves from that head and still ate the rest with no issue.) Now when I eat raw garlic I stick to just eating the whole cloves. It does make me wonder if a smaller mammal would be more likely to experience this "faux toxicity" effect with garlic.
That's absolutely fascinating. Thank you for sharing!
I think this might be why vets say garlic is toxic to dogs and cats! They probably can’t handle the allicin. PSA don’t give your dogs scraps of food containing garlic!
One of the best things to consume is garlic fermented in honey.
You just cover peeled garlic in honey and let it ferment and burp in a dark cabinet. Safe to eat and healthy and delicious
IIRC, this is part of why cats can not safely have garlic or onion. I almost lost my elderly cat because they got into a garden vegetable flavored cream cheese spread. It had a lot of garlic and onion that his vet said not only cause 3 days of digestive issues but also damaged his kidneys. So yes, your theory is probably correct.
I think maybe it’s that kind of reaction that makes garlic and other alliums difficult for some people to eat and digest. My SIL gets very sick from garlic and onions. She can’t eat them at all.
A lot of people have bad reactions to alliums. It’s one of the foods in a FODMAP- certain types of carbohydrates that are difficult for some people to digest. They can cause a lot of digestive problems and trigger IBS and other digestive disorders. There’s a low FODMAP diet and even a line of condiments called FODY that don’t have FODMAPs in them. Ketchup is considered a low FODMAP food in small amounts, but a lot of people adore ketchup and eat larger amounts when they have ketchup. Plus ketchup is an ingredient in a lot of delicious sauces. So this company made a version that a lot of people can digest. I myself haven’t been diagnosed with a condition that requires a low FODMAP diet and hope I don’t have to have an even more restricted diet.
I have chronic pancreatitis, and while I can eat onions (cooked or caramelized is easier to digest although I can eat small amounts of raw onions if I’m having a good day) too much garlic makes me nauseated and causes stomach cramps. Which is painful because my pancreas is already tender and inflamed (I’ve been lucky that I have recovered from all my acute pancreatitis flares and only once had a small amount of necrotic tissue that resolved itself. The body is an amazing machine.)
I quite like whole clove pickled garlic such as is sometimes found in supermarket deli olive bars. They have a satisfying crunch of raw, but without the pain.
I would love to see a video exploring how much different forms of chicken stock/broth matter in common cooking dishes. I love to make my own chicken stock when I make dishes like risotto or soup but does it matter if you use store-bought, homemade, jarred (bouillon), etc? Maybe Ethan will make a video about it..
I second this!
I played this while I prepared dinner by myself and it was so therapeutic. Ethan please make more long explanation videos like this! The combination of food and science are my favorites and I really appreciate your details to every single variable.
never stop doing this vidoe format! It is what makes you different than other online chefs. You're teaching us to fish, not just giving us fish.
Agree 100%. So nice with a spot on, clear not to goofy or wannabe professor.
Very good!
Totally agree. Ethan has changed the way I cook like no other cooking show, recipe book, or RUclips cook has. I actually look forward to his weekly newsletter because it will be worth the read.
Totally agree
Thanks for this! I remember reading in Paul Prudhomme's original "Louisiana Cooking" book that he always used both fresh and dehydrated garlic and onion because he knew they do indeed add different elements of flavors, as you discovered.
There are a lot of great cooking videos that tell you perfectly correct ways of doing things, but you're one of the best at explaining WHY to us nerds that care about such things.
SCIENCE TASTES AWESOME!
Honestly these deep dives into foods in a very easy to understand and relate to format make this channel pure gold. I enjoy this and btw i spent too long in the balsamic vinegar aisle after i watched that video!
Man, you just keep upping the game and delivering increasingly elevated food content. We are blessed to have you Ethan. This is a garlic masterclass
I have a doctorate degree... I ALWAYS love your evidence-based, scientific approach to topics that others just subjectively discuss.
Same
Same dude, PhD in Astrophysics here
@@hiddenknowledge6333i aspire to get where u are man
It's really inspired work & so darn entertaining! I enjoy the silliness & subtle humor mixed in, the zeal with which he devours food. And lately Ethan has had some really cool guests.
PhD foodies unite!
I love garlicky dishes and I love this video! Thank you so much for being the taste tester. Such a big sacrifice! And thank you for so much useful information. Cilantro chicken will be this Sunday's dinner, for sure. And yes, please make more videos like this one.
I'm making it for dinner tonight! How was it?? I tried looking up other recipes for "cilantro chicken" (got nothing but like salsa-y chicken dishes) and Dhaniya chicken, which is the proper Indian version of his dish and it had a LOT more going into it - a lot more ingredients that I don't have laying around the house, so I bought the ingredients for his more simple version. :) Going to serve oer basmati rice
Frozen garlic is quite a good substitute for anything which doesn't require the freshest taste. It even has a bit of the bite and spiciness when eaten directly. You have to use more of it because it essentially tastes like precut garlic after maybe 15 minutes of waiting around but for Aglio olio, I'm mostly using this one now.
After purchasing one of those large bags of peeled garlic cloves, that’s exactly where I put mine.
Can you do the same deep dive on Ginger? Fresh ginger prep is WAY more effort than fresh garlic! Loved the vid! Thanks bunches
I made a pork souvlaki with fresh grated garlic, and one with the jarred garlic. The fresh garlic made it so much better. All of his tests were very accurate.
My most favorite cooking/food channel!!! Very informative, kept me watching the whole video all the way through.
Videos like this are what keep me coming back to the channel. While it's true there's no substitute for simply trying a lot of recipes and experimenting yourself, understanding the _how_ and the _why_ of each ingredient affords you enormous leeway to not only get it 'right', but to customize things just-so to your own tastes. You provide an invaluable service, sir. Pray continue.
Wow...who knew I would be fascinated by a 44 minute video about garlic?!? I learned a ton, and can't thank you enough for doing all this work for us viewers. I use garlic in my competition chili, and I have definitely changed my stance on how I will use garlic going forward! Keep up the great work on your channel...🤩
i super love that you go so in depth on all of these food mechanics, like how they are affected by different temperatures, cooking times, combinations with water oil and other compounds. Alot of cooking media only says how to do stuff, this actually tests and explains the WHY we do them, which is so valuable and gives so much more confidence and room for experimenting in the kitchen.
Agreed!
I queued this video up three months ago and left the tab open unwatched because it was 44 minutes long, but I'm incredibly glad I actually watched it now. This video may be long, but it does not in any way waste your time. It actually teaches you an incredible amount about garlic in a much shorter amount of time than it has any right cramming it all into. This is like 2 hours worth of solid culinary content reduced down for your convenience, and you should take advantage of this resource.
I'd love to see you try frozen crushed garlic. I buy it from Trader Joe's and find it tastes the most like fresh, outside of fresh itself. When I'm too lazy to peel and mince garlic myself (most of the time), I grab the frozen stuff.
My mom uses this stuff! The trick is probably in flash freezing right after chopping so the compounds don’t have time to fully mix and the scent doesn’t have time to dissipate
ethan could you make a home-made mayo episode? where you compare it to store-bought, and then compare different recipes for example whole eggs vs. only yolks, or acid types, or different flavors, or how can you make it lower calorie etc. to find the most attainable recipe for the homecook :)
Standard mayo is made with soybean oil. Look up how bad vegetable oils are for your health.
I'm not sure why people care about low calorie mayo? Make it with good oil like avocado and you're good
I think that the biggest reason for people not making it at home is that the jarred stuff simply lasts a lot longer. It's not complicated to make.
Sorry Ethan, I guess I had a good guess
And do the difference between dutch Belgium and American version
One of my favorites of all your videos. It's a deep dive on the flavors of a single ingredient while sneakily showing me how to make three different dishes that all utilize fresh, delicious ingredients.
Wow, thankyou for putting this together. I really appreciate the time you and the team spent. Ethan is answering the questions that we always have at the back of our minds! Liked and Subscribed!
Fantastic Video. I’m surprised you didn’t experiment with the frozen crushed/grated garlic cubes you can buy or make. I would love to know more about if freezing can halt or dramatically, slow the degradation. Maybe an entire episode of fresh vs frozen aromatics…
how about frozen onions? i think i found them in the freezer case and was wondering if it was worth it.
I was really hoping he'd include the frozen garlic from trader joes!
I buy the huge bag of peeled garlic from Costco and it immediately goes in the freezer. It’s how my mom kept garlic, too. You get the ease of not needing to peel garlic with (imo) the flavors of fresh. The cloves definitely do lose some of their virtue over time, but kept whole like that it’s much slower than crushed.
@lynoreabbott1010 I often use frozen onions. They are lifesavers if you have run out of onions and are making a stew or something that needs onions. If I need to saute them I use ghee or dripping because of the high smoke point.
In short, frozen onions are great for cooking, but not salads.
Which of the dehydrated forms of garlic you should use also depends on the way you are using it.
I use granulated garlic like most people use salt, and is a quick way to boost the garlic taste while cooking without having to add more fresh.
I prefer powdered when I am making my own trail mixes and rubs it just mixes in better.
I like to use the chopped form in soups and stews for the ease of use.
Loved this, please do more long-form content diving deep into essential items. Super helpful for soon-to-be homecooks like myself
So grateful for you and making these videos. Totally trust you and your research. I’m learning a lot. Thank you again.
This was fascinating. I don't think I've ever seen a better takedown on the character of garlic, and the questions of "what flavor do I want from my garlic?" and "is it a main or supporting player?" I'm adding to my everyday cooking. Really solid work.
Hey Ethan, love your long form videos! I would appreciate it if you could make an episode on butter. I am really confused with different butters out there, regular, churned, grass-fed, European, Irish etc. I wonder if expensive butters are worth the price.
Loved the longer format. Spencer and Keith have done an amazing job to support you. Great team effort guys!
If you buy pre peeled cloves, store the cloves covered in olive oil in a glass jar in the refrigerator. Keeps them from molding. You will need to bring the olive oil to room temp to liquify the oil. Or store in a dark jar or wrapped in foil on your counter.
Real olive oil doesn’t solidify 😬 Ive only seen coconut oil do that.
@@GreenWitch1 Sorry but real olive oil can and does freeze. Likely because it was close to the freezer compartment. Olive oil has a freezing point of 42 degrees. Variations in the fatty acid compositions of different olive oils affect when it freezes. But now I keep my oil bottle on the counter with the cloves in it, so it doesn’t freeze.
@@slc1161 I wouldn’t know. I don’t store my oil in the refrigerator 😂
@@slc1161 keep it in the fridge. Room temp olive oil is a great way for botulism to fester in garlic. You can supposedly prevent it by adding some acid to it (like lemon juice) but I'm not taking the risk on that. This is why all commercially available garlic oils have an acid additive.
Thank you for taking the time, and making the effort to make this video. My experience with garlic products fits right in with your conclusions. As a home cook, I started limiting myself to fresh garlic and granulated several years ago. My rule of thumb has been, "Granulated garlic brings out other flavors. Fresh garlic provides garlic flavor and aroma." This was the first of your videos I've watched. You now have another subscriber. Thanks again.
Loving this type of videoes and appreciate the effort and time that inevitably goes into producing such articulate information about just a single ingredient. I imagine you were like most of us before the video - not really informed about much else about garlic than the taste, smell and how it grows. It must have taken heavy work to research and put together this whole thing. Thanks dude ❤
If you freeze your bag of fresh peeled garlic, it can be defrosted and used at a later date. It's a must have in my kitchen.
I'm really shocked this wasn't brought up. Freezing pre-peeled garlic is an AMAZING tip and makes it so much easier to use garlic in the future.
Whats the point of prepeeling garlic and freezing it? Garlic can already sit for weeks why put it freezer? It's not like you are saving time. You are wasting more time as you spend time of peeling + putting into freezer + taking it out of the freezer + you endup shuffle it in freezer when you are searching for something else. In contrast if you don't prepeel you only spending time on peeling and nothing else. You muricans always come up with absolutely pointless weird cooking ideas.
@@sk-sm9shFor the point of clarity since I think you've missed their point, they're not prepeeling it themselves, they're buying prepeeled garlic from the store and then freezing it. Therefore saving the time of peeling it when you want to use it. For me however, I'd always use fresh garlic since unless I'm using an absolutely ungodly amount of garlic in a dish I don't find peeling garlic that onerous.
@@nathanberridge7321 I forgot about that indeed thanks for reminding me about it. I learned about the fact that peeled garlic even exists some time ago from Netflix series "big garlic" where they showcased garlics being peeled in Chinese prisons. USA never stops to amaze me lol. In Europe you will not find prepeeled garlic as you will not find idiot to buy it. Not in my scariest dreams would I had imagined that anyone would buy prepeeled garlic let alone that it's such large scale businesses that it make sense to get Chinese prisoners to work for free to peel them. Absolute madness. Garlic is like the easiest thing ever to peel. Smack it one time hard and it pops out. Not only it is so easy it is also satisfying. In contrast prepeeled garlic already lost some of its fragrance so you endup using more cloves. And in some situations you don't even need to peel just smack it one time hard and throw it right on oil with the shell let it cook to release fragrance and remove it. The best of garlic fragrance is in the more outer white of garlic but the part that is difficult to digest is in the core - gourmet restaurants go through effort to split garlic clove in half and then remove the inner core of the white. Now prepeeling already loses fragrance but freezing is going to reduce it even more. Also I bet that prepeeled garlic they use cheapest lowest quality garlics as input for prepeel so they also have less fragrance than good quality garlic. In the end after prepeeling lowest quality garlic then taking them over pacific ocean then freezing and then defrosting it I wonder if there is still any garlic taste left at all. And if it has lost fragrance why even put it in your food at all - it's not easy to digest and you endup farting garlicy smell if you eat too many cloves. In contrast if you use good garlic in moderation it adds fragrance to food without giving bad smell nor bad farts.
@@sk-sm9sh I'd imagine it's primarily for the convenience, but it could also be useful for people who have trouble with their hands - arthritis for example, where peeling small, fiddly objects like garlic could be far more time consuming and potentially even painful.
This guys is my hero, everyone talks about what’s best but never has anything to back it up nice vid
Ethan - you’re like the Alton Brown of RUclips cooking shows! One thing that’s helped make using fresh garlic much more convenient for me, is using a good quality garlic press where you don’t have the peel the clove beforehand!
I have learned way way more from Ethan than that smug little shit
Peeling a garlic clove is "inconvenient"..?
You give those things a good ol' whack with your fist on to the flat side of a kitchen knife and they practically _peel themselves._
What the hell.
@@DatsWhatHeSaidYup. Cleavers are great for that.
Gosh to each its own. I grew up with a garlic press but now I find it more annoying to clean out the press than to whack the clove with a cleaver.
U dont peel it before putting it in the garlic press?
I cook for nearly 2 dozen people daily. The prepeeled garlic really means I use more garlic. A peeled clove going into a press takes seconds. When you have to do a whole head it makes a big difference in prep time. When you got 3-4 onions, a couple peppers, a head of garlic, and dozens of other ingredients as well as timing everything. It really makes a difference. If it was just a normal size family, whole garlic every time.
Many times, I use whole fresh cloves, prepeeled gloves, and powdered together in the same recipe. They all have different flavors. I usually do multiple additions at different times too.
Even if I were using only fresh garlic, I'd still time my additions to give the different aspects of garlic at different levels of cooking. A couple in with the onions, a couple in a minute or two out, and a couple just before moving to the next step.
This is exactly the kind of content I hope to see. I follow a lot of food RUclipsrs, but when I want culinary science distilled into a digestible format as it applies to my kitchen in a practical sense, you are the expert.
One chef that I admire recommends that when you chop or dice your garlic, to let it sit for ten minutes to let it denature and develop its flavors. I tried it but wasn't impressed, but I got into the habit of crushing my garlic, then letting it sit for ten to fifteen minutes, then slicing or dicing, which seem to give me the best of both worlds. Thanks for putting this out. I tend to only purchase diced garlic, then using a grinder to either granulate or make into a powder. I definitely like the overall taste better. I thank you for putting out this video.
This video is beautifully edited and produced. You are doing amazing work Ethan.
I think you missed a really great substitute for fresh garlic. Frozen garlic cubes in individual blister packs. As far as I know, only one company makes them (ginger as well) and it is AMAZING, with no fuss. Looking forward to a taste test including this new grocery item!
Try the frozen garlic cubes. I'd love to see your results on this because it knocks the pants off any other pre-prepared one I have had. Even the store bought version, but it is easy to make at home (and common in Indian cuisine, though often with ginger)!
Yeah I’ve been using the Dorot brand of frozen cubes for years as well! I have them on hand for ginger, parsley and garlic.
Yes, I'd love to see a follow up with frozen garlic!
I make frozen garlic butter. The thing with spices is, it takes oil and salt or you won't taste them. So I just once a month put a few sticks of butter in a rice warmer (on the warm setting) and put in a BUNCH of garlic. Then I refreeze in an ice cube tray. This means that not only do you get the garlic and butter when you put a cube into whatever you're making... also, the flavor and aroma has already been actuated.
I do the same thing with rosemary, and it has the added benefit of softening the rosemary so your rosemary potatoes don't have the texture of pine needles.
Scapes r good in salads. Jarred is convenient. I cook for just me. Ive used garlic medicinally & its made with fresh cloves
Really love these long and detailed video's. This way you don't just see one recipe, but you learn how to cook. Keep up the great effort Ethan!
God I love just how much Ethan teaches us. Thanks so much for your detailed deep dives, it's so helpful for those of us who get anxious in the kitchen
Loved this video. I think the only further things I'd be curious about are frozen garlic (either in cloves or minced up) and the little pre-made frozen garlic cubes that you just pop out into a dish. Definitely sold me on not using canned garlic though.
Just a quick note on the bulk peeled garlic. We buy it at Costco in a large bulk bag and throw it in the freezer, then use it as we need it. Lasts all year.
More like this please.
A series or playlist of hour long videos taking DEEP dives on a particular everyday ingredient would be great for this space and cooks everywhere
I love that he's getting more in depth overtime. I've enjoyed all the previous videos he's done like this, but this one took a step uo.
This was so extremely helpful! Can you do a video comparing frozen, canned (syrup v water), and fresh fruits? I've always wondered if frozen was actually better than fresh fruit and how to properly store fruits to preserve their flavors. Bananas, berries, melons, peaches, apples, pears, tomatoes, and grapes are all some I've wondered about, especially when it comes to usage in smoothies.
In my experience frozen fruits are great in smoothies where the softer texture isn't an issue, and some are great eaten directly out of the freezer as a snack, like sweet cherries or blueberries. The main benefit of freezing is to capture the fruit at the peak of ripeness, and it involves less (or no)* cooking than canning so you don't lose as much of the vitamins, and they retain a bit more structural integrity than canned. Fresh fruit from the grocery store is often picked before it's completely ripe, so that it can travel and sit on the shelf for a while, but the frozen ones are picked riper and processed immediately, so the quality of the original fruit is often higher in frozen form.
*Fruit usually doesn't need blanching before freezing but vegetables from other parts of the plant do, to stop the growth enzymes and such from doing their thing. If you just chuck your beans or carrots directly in the freezer they turn to unpleasant mush.
Ethan,
Before adding granulated garlic to an acidic environment, it's better to mix it with a bit of warm fresh water, first --- otherwise the acid hydrolyzes the allinase preventing the formation of allicyn, thereby greatly affecting its taste.
I have several major tv subscription services and this 45 minutes of garlic documentary is by far the best thing I've watched all month. Thank you
One suggestion: if you buy the pre-peeled garlic cloves and don't want them to go bad is to put the unused ones in the freezer tightly wrapped to prevent freezer-burn.
Another fantastic deep dive Ethan! As a home cook I really enjoy these videos. They give me the opportunity to learn a lot and answer questions that I have, without having to do all the work that you're doing. Thanks and keep up the fantastic work!
Marvellous video, so in depth!
One thing I'd like to add for people relying on convenience, is that you can bulk-prepare garlic by chucking it in a food processor and then freezing it immediately thinly spread in freezer bags. Now you can get frozen, minced garlic out of the freezer anytime. Almost as good as fresh. :)
oooh my ADHD ass who relies on garlic paste thanks you!
I needed this video so bad. Growing garlic in my garden for the first time this year 🥰 armed with the knowledge to make the most of my work.
Love this deeper dive video. Much like using fresh garlic, the extra work definitely paid off. Next one should be about onions. Which ones to use when
I so feel the “irritating food is less boring”. I struggle at times with appetite and my homemade fermented pineapple habanero sauce have carried my meals big time. Adding tons of garlic to any dish helps too. Very interesting video! 🥳
Genuinely love these types of videos. I can now stay strong in the grocery when my love of cooking clashes with my laziness at peeling garlic.
Great video, great topic, great experimentation, great everything. Thanks for sharing :)