GARLIC

FOR ME, GARLIC is the starting point of almost every dish. I use it for flavor, sure, but I’m convinced there’s an elemental reason garlic helps make food delicious. The very aroma of garlic telegraphs that this is real cooking. Based on our primitive reaction to garlic, our evolutionary history, we know this is safe food. Raw garlic is generally believed to have antibacterial properties. But I like the way it makes food taste.

Garlic is always present in my kitchen. Always! Each dish I cook calls for a varying amount of garlic; the way you cut and handle it raw defines the dish. For rustic Italian-style cooking, I smash an unpeeled clove with the side of my knife, remove its paperlike skin, and toss it into a pan of sautéed asparagus, or roasting fillet of sea bass, or simmering tomato sauce, then remove it just before serving. For a refined French style, I use a small sharp knife to finely mince garlic and add it in small amounts during the cooking process of silky carrot soups, pungent herbal marinades, and rich potato gratins. For an American-style salsa, I might roughly chop a few cloves and toss them raw with ripe heirloom tomatoes, grilled sweet corn, and smoky peppers. Shockingly, for such a common and easy-to-grow ingredient, the majority of garlic in the world comes from China. You won’t be surprised that I prefer to use whole heads of local garlic. I’ve gone so far as to entrust my family’s heirloom garlic (from my great-grandfather’s Italian seed) to the stewardship of Jim Wroble, a farmer friend who now supplies the restaurant and my home kitchen, too. See Garlic Puree (here).