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Seasonal New Garlic Is a Step Up in Flavor Seasonal New Garlic Is a Step Up in Flavor
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You may not think of garlic as a seasonal ingredient, but it is, and the season is now. I am an unabashed garlic lover, and from midsummer forward, I use it in just about everything.You may not think of garlic as a seasonal ingredient, but it is, and the season is now. I am an unabashed garlic lover, and from midsummer forward, I use it in just about everything.
New garlic is a different animal from the familiar grocery-store garlic. This is garlic that, instead of being plucked young and sold as shoots called green garlic, is allowed to mature and form large heads. It comes with the roots still on and the stalks attached, and since it hasn’t been air-dried for long storage, the skin enclosing the individual cloves is still moist, not papery. Those cloves, when peeled, look like shiny pearls, and they have a fresh-tasting sweetness even when used raw. New garlic is a different animal from the familiar grocery-store garlic. This is garlic that, instead of being plucked young and sold as shoots called green garlic, is allowed to mature and form large heads. It comes with the roots still on and the stalks attached, and since it hasn’t been air-dried for long storage, the skin enclosing the individual cloves is still moist, not papery.
There’s a classic French dish called poulet aux 40 gousses d’ail, which translates as chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. Though that much garlic might sound overpowering, the idea is this: Garlic cooked slowly and thoroughly loses its pungency, becoming sweet and unctuous in the process. The garlic is then eaten as a vegetable accompaniment, or spread on toasted bread. Though you can make it with ordinary garlic in cooler weather, the result is sensational with summer’s new crop. Those cloves, when peeled, look like shiny pearls, and they have a fresh-tasting sweetness even when used raw.
Aside from the garlic, all you need to make this dish is a good chicken, an onion, a few thyme branches and a little white wine. I use a Dutch oven to make it — since the cutup bird is moist-cooked, not roasted, a heavy pot with a tightfitting lid keeps all the succulence in, and the fragrant ingredients are concentrated into flavorful pan juices. There’s a classic French dish called poulet aux 40 gousses d’ail, which translates as chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. Though that much garlic might sound overpowering, the idea is this: garlic cooked slowly and thoroughly loses its pungency, becoming sweet and unctuous in the process. The garlic is then eaten as a vegetable accompaniment, or spread on toasted bread.
Though you can make this dish with ordinary garlic in cooler weather, the result is sensational with summer’s new crop.
Aside from the garlic, all you need is a good chicken, an onion, a few thyme branches and a little white wine. I use a Dutch oven to make it — since the cutup bird is moist-cooked, not roasted, a heavy pot with a tightfitting lid keeps all the succulence in, and the fragrant ingredients are concentrated into flavorful pan juices.
I find it easiest to start on the stovetop and finish the dish in the oven, which ensures even heat and helps brown the chicken at the end of the cooking. (Should you want to make it entirely on the stovetop, also possible, you’d need to brown the chicken parts at the beginning.)I find it easiest to start on the stovetop and finish the dish in the oven, which ensures even heat and helps brown the chicken at the end of the cooking. (Should you want to make it entirely on the stovetop, also possible, you’d need to brown the chicken parts at the beginning.)
As for the new garlic, the heads just need cleaning up a bit. Trim off the roots and stalk, then remove a layer or two of the tough exterior. Count on at least one head per person. But the devoted, like me, will require three or four. As for the new garlic, the heads just need cleaning up a bit. Trim off the roots and stalk, then remove a layer or two of the tough exterior.
Count on at least one head per person. But the devoted, like me, will require three or four.