Prepare Garlic
You should remove all of your garlic cloves from
the head before starting.
Crushing garlic is recommended if you want a
stronger garlic flavor--this releases more of the pungent flavor and natural
juices of garlic. Marinades and foods such as Caesar salad and shrimp scampi
demand crushed garlic.
Garlic chopped into slices or larger pieces will
usually add a light flavor to your dish. It's less likely to dissolve or
soften, so you won't get as strong a garlic flavor as you will with crushed
garlic.
Minced garlic which is less pungent than crushed
garlic, but still adds great flavor for recipes that require stir-frying
or sauteeing. Since minced garlic is very finely chopped
into small cubical pieces, it will dissolve more easily when cooking. In
stir-fry dishes especially, minced garlic adds a great deal of flavor to
the cooking oil used in the frying pan.
