A couple of months ago, Chow’s “Gear” columnist Louisa Chu began her solid review of garlic presses with this announcement: “There are two kinds of cooks in the world: those who use garlic presses, and those who denounce them as useless gadgets.”
While anti-garlic press rhetoric has been fashionable for some time, the haters fall into more than just the “useless gadget” camp. Here are four vocal groups we’ve noticed:
Who: Anti-unitaskers
Chief complaint: A garlic press is a unitasker, a kitchen tool that does only one thing. A tool that does only one thing is a waste of money and takes up space that could be used to store tools that do more than one thing.
Spokesperson: Alton Brown
Money quote: “Don’t go there. You don’t want that. That thing is a one-trick pony, okay? If you’re going to hang with me, you’re going to have to learn how to appreciate multitaskers.”
Who: Extreme economizers
Chief complaint: The garlic press promotes general wastefulness by leaving a little bit of the clove unpressed. Those little bits of garlic add up. Plus, a garlic press is difficult to clean.
Spokesperson: Martha Stewart
Money quote: “A press is meant to be a convenience, but in addition to being wasteful — some of the clove is always trapped inside — it doesn’t save much time.”
Who: Supertasting flavor geeks
Chief complaint: The flavor of pressed garlic is, depending on the denouncer, either “too aggressive” or “lost entirely.” Both sides like to delve into the chemistry involved — “cell walls” and “volatile oils” and so on.
Spokesperson: No single voice, but the spiritual guide is kitchen scientist Harold McGee
Money quote: “The pungent nature of garlic is carried by the oils within it, which happen to have a rather low vapor pressure, but fairly high dissolution and absorption rates, hence why they can be easily emitted from the garlic (which obviously has high concentrations) and doesn’t really come out of anything else.”
Who: Kitchen purists
Chief complaint: The liquidy pulp that garlic presses produce is a lesser form of garlic, one that “completely disrespects food” (as one commenter wrote in response to one of Brys’ posts on garlic). This camp likes to invoke the supremacy of “knife skills.”
Spokesperson: Anthony Bourdain
Money quote: “I don’t know what that junk is that squeezes out of the end of those things, but it ain’t garlic.”
Actually though, it is garlic, and sometimes putting it through a press makes perfect sense. (See How to mince garlic.) While it’s not the solution to all your garlic needs, the garlic press is definitely not the “abomination” Bourdain and others say it is.
We think Chow commenter CestMoi nailed it in response to more anti-garlic press rhetoric:
You know, sometimes all I want when I get home after a loooong day at work is a bowl of pasta with garlic and olive oil.
And you know what else?
To get that bowl, I’m certainly not going to pull out my knife and my chopping board.
I’m going to grab my rolly thingy, pop a clove of garlic in it, rub the skin off and then put that clove of garlic in the press and smoosh it out into my bowl, then I’m going to pop the warm pasta on top of it, season with salt & pepper and a healthy glug of olive oil, and then I’m going to sit on my a** and make raspberry noises at the TV chefs that think they’re too good for the humble garlic press.
Haters!
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ll tell you why I hate presses, which wasn’t addressed in any of your categories: texture. I like small little chunks of garlic with some heft, either tossed in with potato slices and baked, or stir fried with greens, or mixed in with a tomatoe, cucumber and radish salad. Nut soupy mush.
Thanks, debrad. I think I might lump you in the “Kitchen purist” group — “liquidy pulp” and all that. But I agree with you that in dishes that call for tossing garlic — dishes where garlic doesn’t permeate the whole thing — you’re better off not using a garlic press.
Golly, CestMoi, you’re doing too much work. You need to peel and ‘mince’ garlic the way my Italian grandmother taught me.
1) select a couple of cloves from the head and place on cutting board/firm surface.
2) grab your second-best saucepan.
3) Imagine the clove of garlic is someone who’s really, really made you angry lately, or a politician.
4) Whack the garlic with the flat side of the pan.
5) Lift the entire peel away from the now-flattened garlic. If you smacked it hard enough, it’ll be well-smushed, just like out of the press.
And the bottom of your second-best saucepan can be wiped clean with one swipe, unlike the presses I’ve seen.
I guess I fall into another category of haters: garlic sensualists (or something less pretentious sounding). I love working with garlic, the feel of it, etc. – don’t even mind the smell on my hands!
Nice one, Bylnemjf. I like “Garlic sensualists” as another camp. Not so focused on tools and techniques but the ingredient itself. I can relate to that. Sounds good, Mary Sue. I’ve never had a problem keeping garlic presses clean, but the bottom of a pan would certainly be easier. Who do you think of when you smash?
First time visitor to this site and oy, what an eye catching topic. One of those minute this we don’t talk about. Personally, I don’t mind the flavor that comes out of the press, but cleaning that thing afterwards –. Reason enough for me not to use it.
Now I’m going to brows through the rest of your site.
I am firmly in the press-hater camp. When I use garlic, I’m not interested in garlic juice — I want the taste and texture. And really, if you can’t use a knife properly, which makes such quick work of mincing garlic, then you are not really serious about cooking. Jacques Pepin is my idol; the man does everything with a knife, makes it look effortless, and takes no time at all. My goal is to be able to use a knife half as well as he does.
Great post…love it.
I don’t like garlic presses because I can never get all the smoosh out…then it dries, becomes totally impossible to get out and then I have to work at it. Yuck!
I recently purchased a Garlic twist and it is fabulous. You bash the garlic with the twist, open it up, pop the peeled clove in, and twist. So simple, so cool.
I am absolutely, positively PRO garlic press. I think they’re so useful for the commentor’s reasons as stated above, but I also love them for salads. I like a bit of raw garlic in my dressings, like in the Times’ recent raw kale salad, and I could never mince it by hand small enough to not be too much, so that’s when I reach for my garlic press. Silly haters! Presses are useful!
Here’s an idea, instead of using the unitasking garlic press, use a microplane. Sure it’s useful for zesting citrus or shredding hard cheeses, but it’s also GREAT for putting a beating on a clove of garlic. If you’re real careful with your fingers you can even “zest” more of the garlic than you’d be able to press through a garlic press. I’m in Alton Brown’s camp, multitaskers only please!
Thanks so much for the mention. I love your delineation of the four vocal food groups. With all due respect to Alton, Martha, Harold, and Tony, I guess none of them has a uni-tasking corkscrew either? And I’ve tried side-by-side taste tests and found little to no difference. As far as texture, again, a press is not perfect for every garlic application – in the same way that even the finest hand-chopped steak tartare is not a substitute for côte de boeuf – it depends on what you want. I challenge anyone who’s used my top-rated garlic press – the Kuhn Rikon Epicurean – to find fault with it. It is the Microplane of garlic presses – it will change your pre-conceived notions of a familiar kitchen tool. It is like having your own prep cook meticulously brunoise each garlic clove for you. Thanks again.
I am none of the above- I just HATE cleaning the press. You can’t get it clean it the dishwasher and even scrubbing leaves bits of garlic in the holes!
Yes, I hate little pieces of garlic, that easily burn. Giving a clove a quick hit with the side of a knife is the only way I use garlic now, and I’ve had the best flavour since I started doing it this way. The garlic melts down beautifully, doesn’t burn, and imparts a beautiful garlic flavour. And it’s as easy as anything else.
The Bourdain quote is great – thanks for that.
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