Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2021/01/16/an-attempt-to-master-a-new-garlic-peeling-technique.html
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Yup, it’s the New Yorker.
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One of my fave cooking youtubers tried this a while back showing that it’s doable but pretty difficult and there’s a lot of factors that need to align for it to even begin to work. Likely worth mastering if someone goes through a lot of garlic but doesn’t seem super reliable.
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That’s occultism. Prove me wrong.
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I watched the video; the outcome for the “student” was exactly as I feared. My experience is bulbs vary quite a bit…some of them it’s like peeling a wrapper off a piece of hard candy, others it’s like picking the lint off that same piece of candy once it’s been unwrapped in Grandma’s purse for three years. The harder varieties (some people call it ‘Italian garlic’) seem to peel easier and to me taste better. The "giant bag ‘o garlic bulbs’ with the routed roots, not so much. Of course with those you can always follow the popular YouTube cook method of just cutting the bulb in half and not bothering to peel at all. Pre-peeled garlic, ahh no thanks
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Why bother?
This is so much easier, and faster:
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I peel a dozen cloves at a time, usually for a few Korean dishes I make. Find some old garlic and you can just roll it between your thumb and finger hard and it’ll pop right out. Or if you have some stubborn garlic you can put all of the cloves between two metal or plastic mixing bowls and shake it hard for several seconds. Unfortunately the trick in that video never works for me, it’s almost certainly a hardneck versus softneck variety difference.
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It’s a rare double-half-re-boing!
But I completely missed Helen Rosner’s piece on the technique—thanks!
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Emmy is one of the Internet’s treasures.
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This is, like, a weird synchronicity overload. I’ve recently been thinking I need to finally get dedicated tools for garlic, and I’ve also been using a lot of New Yorker-style diaereses for some reason, and I cut the middle finger of my left hand with a scalpel yesterday (not while cooking). Spoöky!
I can’t say that peeling garlic has ever been my big issue though. Sure, it’s slightly tedious, but I’ve found that if I cut the end bits not quite all the way through before peeling, I can usually just use them as handles to pull the skin off in one go.
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I always just pressed with the flat edge of a knife, and the clove pops right out.
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Just crush it with the flat of the chefs knife you chop it with. Don’t need to make a big production about it unless you are feeding a crowd.
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Indeed. I nip both ends off with the knife first but that really is it 
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it seems like some garlic is worse than others. Does the papery part loosen as it gets older?
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I just tried it and was able to do it on the first try, Then failed the second time. I’ve always just crushed them with a knife. The bowl thing seemed crazy when i tried it once. I’ll do more work to avoid the noise. LOL.
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Because then you have two large bowls to wash, which is just as tedious but also wasteful.
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Meh, that takes about 20 seconds. 30 at the most. And sometimes you can instead just use them to continue cooking with.
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Learned this years ago from a vegetarian club that went through dozens of cloves for most meal prep: Smash them with a pyrex/strong mug or glass. Another method I’ve been doing more recently, if I’m doing something else in the instant pot like steaming collards or kale, I drop a whole bulb in the middle. Cutting off the tips beforehand helps. Result: garlic paste dispenser.
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Take your 8’’ Wüsthof and cut the top and bottom off. Then put the flat side of the blade on top and smash it with your other hand. Done in one. Chef wife taught me that trick then make me throw my plastic garlic peeler away.
Unless you are pickling the garlic and need in-tact cloves. Pickled garlic spread on a cracker is sublime.
Having a spouse who went to culinary school and worked at some famous restaurants in Boston has taken my kitchen abilities to a new level. Although many times when she’s watching what I’m doing I get an eye-roll and “Just let me finish it. Go do the dishes”.
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No, THIS is øççültîsm.
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