1. Place garlic, with skin removed, in a
ceramic baking pot, fill with olive oil, big pinch of salt, some whole black
peppers, juniper berries or chili.
2. Pre-heat oven to 200˚C, bake for 12
minutes then switch off oven and leave the baking pot inside until completely cooled
down.
3. Confit garlic should be soft but not
fall apart, repeat the same process if the garlic are big and not soft enough.
4. Eat as such, serve on toast as a spread,
puree to make a dip....and there is the garlic infused oil to use in cooking or
making vinaigrette.
I found your blog through a link on the Sichuan Cooking School. Very interesting recipe. I am trying it out now. I am using Celery Salt instead of ordinary salt to enhance the flavor, also added two Bay Leaves. I wonder if I should cover the pot; I am afraid some condensation water may drop into the oil?
ReplyDeleteI have done this dish before as explained by French chef Michel Roux, Sr., but he adds baby tomatoes, thyme and no salt, and does not peel the garlic before putting it into the oil. I found the dish fade in taste, oily and the prominence of the thyme was too strong. To peel off the garlic in the oil was not a nice idea either. Finally, he put it on the stove and when I did that, even with smallest flame, the whole thing began to boil, which is not what it should.
I think the more stripped off version you are offering here is more in keeping with the original French idea of garlic confit.
Hi Peter, great to meet another foodie.
ReplyDeleteI harvested garlic from my garden recently, some of the bulbs are damaged by continuous rain in June and need to be used immediately. As the temperature should not be higher than 100˚C, there should not be condensation? The lid helps with preserving the heat.
So I thought of preserving it in olive oil by slow, low temperature cooking, this way of heating up then let it cooled down is the most economic way. I prefer to peel the skin off first, like you said, peel it after is a mess. Your suggestion of bay leaves is good and everything taste better with a bit of salt.
Mandy