Comments on: Piccata

By: Jophine

Jophine — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:56:07 +0000

I hear that one Mr. Joshua Bosworth cannot light his own grill.

Admittedly, neither can I.

But that’s why I don’t use a damn outdoor grill.

PS: what are you doing that your garlic is spraying anything? o_o Sure, a little bit of liquid is lost on the board, but unless you’re taking a food processor to it and straining it, a noticeable amount of that liquid gold is not coming out. If you want a rub for your grilled thing, just halve the clove and rub it on what-have-you. You get the essence of it and it doesn’t look like you went Spanish Inquisition on it.

By: Joshy

Joshy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:06:56 +0000

I tend to clean most of the paper off of the clove and slice a bit of the bottom off before I press anything and it’s not too terrible to clean. It is a tool only useful for one thing, but it does a Good_Job of it! If unitools were inherently bad, my stock in Sporks, Inc. would’ve taken off by now!
When you press the cloves directly into whatever you’re flavoring, the garlic juices you would be losing on the cutting board instead spray directly into the dish. You could want a less homogeneous mix with packets of garlic but I enjoy the overall wave of flavor.
The pressing itself is also indispensable when creating a rub for the grill: garlic is sticky and the garlic spray coats the raw _whatever_ and all of your other spices stay on your food that much better!

I do still dice garlic, I don’t think I’ll ever go back to pre-minced refrigerated stuff, but pressing has a place near & dear to my heart of hearts. When you need garlic for a vinaigrette, a sauce, and other multiple dishes, it can even save time. I’m sure there’s loads of rationalization here as well as actual reasons for a press as opposed to dicing.

By: George

George — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:01:16 +0000

I’m going to agree with Sophie and Gloria! I bought a garlic press and basically I have never used it except the first time. Also I would think that because you are applying pressure to the garlic instead of just chopping it, that more of the tasty garlic juices are somehow lost, but I have no scientific evidence to support this intuition. YET

By: Sophie

Sophie — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:36:49 +0000

Also, garlic presses = terrible to wash. My brother bought me one for Christmas, alas, and I still regard it with scorn (or just ignore it).

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:29:19 +0000

Pioneer Woman has a recipe for scallopini similar in many of the procedures and ingredients. Just made it and I can attest to its awesomeness.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/03/chicken-scallopine/

By: Gloria

Gloria — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:51:01 +0000

I mostly go with Alton’s criticism that it’s a unitasker and not any easier to use than dicing by hand XD I have a hard time imagining needing to prepare garlic any faster than I can do it right now, is all!

By: Joshy

Joshy — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:07:39 +0000

What’s wrong with a garlic press?? Do you dice by hand instead?
Alton Brown is the man, I need to see more of him.

Tasty, AND simple!

By: Gloria

Gloria — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:45:47 +0000

Sounds tasty! I shall have to try it.

Since I come from the school of Alton Brown and Anthony Bourdain who regard it with scorn, I do not own a garlic press and never will, but I do agree that fresh garlic is the best!