Monster Garlic — a tale of Kitchen disaster!
Thursday, June 21, 2007 16:00
Gentle readers, this is a cautionary tale…
I spotted some unusual garlic at Trader Joe’s the other day. I think it was called “Whole Cloves of Elephant Garlicâ€? or something like that…
It was packaged in an irresistibly adorable fashion. Six round and purple cloves were nestled in a cute wicker tray (that I just have to find a use for afterwards – any suggestions?)
It was covered in a white mesh bag with a mauve label draped across its middle (from memory), indicating it was a Trader Joe’s product.
Monster garlic – wow!
That night I slow baked (10 mins at 400 degrees, then 20 mins per lb at 325 degrees) a de-boned leg of lamb (also from TJs). Our home came with two ovens in our kitchen, which is so convenient in a case like this; in the other oven I had the potatoes roasting at 400 degrees.
Now, previously I have just thrown in, along with my potatoes, whole cloves of garlic; unpeeled and separated from the head. The heat causes the skins to split and slough off easily. The less prep work I have, the better.
So, I threw in three of my elephant garlic cloves and drizzled them, and the halved potatoes, with a bit of olive oil and salt.
About 20 or so minutes later, I peeked.
Disaster! One of the monster cloves had exploded. There were bits of garlic innards all over the inside of my oven, baking away at 400 degrees into nasty, crusty bits. Ugh!
I guess the skins of the garlic were too thick and tough to gently split of their own accord.
BIG MISTAKE in not inserting my knife through the skins, but I just wasn’t expecting it to go that way…
I suppose I am not alone here, but the thing I dislike the most about a mishap is having to clean it up afterwards.
Needless to say I was not happy.
I pulled out the pan and tried to avert further disaster by puncturing the other cloves. I stood side on and as far away as possible, reaching out with my knife and hoping for the best.
The first one was fine. My sharp paring knife made a few slits in the skin.
Then, the second the tip of my knife met the other time bomb – yep, that’s right KA-BOOM!
Garlic everywhere.
All over the clean clothes I’d just put on (I showered mid-prep). All through my hair. All over my face. All over my kitchen! EVERYWHERE!
Luckily the stuff did not scald, burn or scar me. It actually wasn’t as hot as you’d expect.
Final note – the damn stuff turned to mush and I didn’t even eat any of them.
The bits of garlic mush I did taste were surprisingly weak in flavour and off-putting in texture.
Needless to say, I don’t think baking these guys is advisable.
So, gentle readers, have you had better experiences with this novel form of garlic?
Can you recommend any methods or recipes for my three remaining cloves?
By MaxMillion (see more of her posts). Max Million is the nom de 'net of Pauline Adamek. Born in Sydney, Australia, Pauline has lived in Los Angeles for the past thirteen years and finds it agrees with her. She has been reviewing films and filing celebrity-based interview articles since 1991, and has filed stories from various international film festivals, including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto and Sundance. She completed a family cookbook and has also written novels for 8-12 year olds. She is the creator and host of ArtsBeatLA.
Dr. Alice says:
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Exploding garlic… that’s a new one. I assume it happened because the cloves were large enough that they built up a lot of pressure from the steam, as well as the tough-skin issue that you mentioned.
I believe elephant garlic is supposed to be considerably milder than regular garlic, which may be why the taste was so disappointing. You could use it in soups, stews, etc. the same as regular garlic, or put it in mashed potatoes if you like garlic mash. Or mince it and put it on pizza.
Other than that I can’t think of much. Good luck with your garlic.
Shashi says:
June 22nd, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Ah, garlic tragedies. Every family suffers from at least one terrrible garlic mishap. Dr. Alice’s suggestions are sound. Perhaps best to wear a shark-suit next time. And goggles.
jacqueline f says:
June 26th, 2007 at 11:57 am
i’ve used it. it seems fresh, with no green sprout. very juicy and fun to slice super thinly.
Skorgirl says:
June 30th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Ack! Sorry to hear about the garlic catastrophe. I’ve also been lured by that same garlic from trader joe. I put them on the grill, also drizzled with a bit of oil and salt and with some skin removed from the top. There was no explosion but I was surprised by the complete lack of garlicky flavor. It had the quality of roasted garlic but almost undetectable flavor. With that said, maybe it would be better in recipes that call for raw garlic, like pesto?
MaxMillion says:
July 5th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Thanks, everyone, for your comments and suggestions.
I’m gonna make some pesto today!
BTW — does everyone remove the germ (the green shoot) in normal garlic when cooking? I learned to do that when in Paris (the French believe in doing this) but I cannot find out why it’s a good idea. I think I was told you’ll burp less after your meal with the centre piece removed.
Does anyone have any hard facts (or even rumour!) about this practice?
Dana Harris says:
July 6th, 2007 at 6:07 am
The green sprout means you have older garlic — neither ideal nor deadly. I remove the sprout if I plan to use the garlic raw; uncooked, the green bit can be a little bitter. Cooked, it doesn’t matter.
Paul Moses says:
July 12th, 2007 at 8:46 am
I’ve purchased the colossal garlic before. I picked fresh heads and they looked tight. But, they lack flavor and even raw, taste bitter to me. I have never used it since. But I may buy some to keep Vampires out of my kitchen!