Cooking without garlic
Posted by kathryn in Winter and Easier eating
There was a time when I regarded it as a personal failure to run out of garlic. When mum and I would laugh when describing our cooking to each other, at the predictability of starting the meal by sauteeing onions and garlic together. Then I realised garlic was a seasonal crop and there was a period each year, when the garlic in the shops travelled from overseas, usually South America or China.
Wherever possible I eat in-season and choose locally grown fruit and veg, which means there’s a period of the year when I shouldn’t be buying garlic. However it was a foundation ingredient for me, garlic went everywhere in my cooking. Forget giving up out of season cherries, asparagus or mangoes, doing without garlic has been the biggest eating-in-season dilemma for me.
However, I now spend the winter and early spring without garlic. In getting over my garlic reliance, it’s helped to look upon cooking without garlic as a challenge, an opportunity to expand my skills and find new ways of flavouring food. Over the last couple of years I’ve found I no longer miss garlic during winter – although I’m always excited when the new Australian crop starts appearing at the end of Spring.
Here are my tips for cooking without garlic:
1. There’s no good substitute for garlic
While there are many other ways to get flavour into food, there’s no really good garlic replacement. Asafoetida works okay in some dishes, but if you are planning on making garlic bread, roast lamb with garlic, garlic mushrooms or that French chicken dish which uses 40 cloves of garlic, then wait. There’s no good sub you can make, nothing which will replace the lack of garlic in the meal. So leave those dishes for when garlic comes back into season.
2. Get the most flavour out of your vegies
In the past when making winter soups and casseroles I would have added garlic. However I now realise there are lots of other vegetables which can be used to add flavour. My favourites include carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, fennel, parsnips and swede. I treat them gently and sweat out as much of their flavour as possible in the initial cooking.
To do this, I tend to use a mixture of vegetables and chop them up reasonably small. I pour a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into a pan placed over a medium-low heat. Once the olive oil has warmed up, I add the vegetables with a pinch of salt. I then stir the salt through, place a lid on the pan and leave it to cook slowly and gently for 7 – 10 minute, stirring occasionally. During this time the combination of salt and slow cooking pulls a whole lot of flavour out of the vegetables. You can actually see it when you take the lid off, there will be a thin layer of juice at the bottom of the pan.
3. Find other ways to flavour your meals
Garlic is used to flavour food. So, if you’re not using garlic, you need other ingredients which are going to add plenty of flavour. At this time of year I use lots of spices, dried herbs, bay leaves, preserved lemons, shoyu, miso – all of which add layers of flavour and deliciousness to the foods I’m cooking. No garlic required.
4. Preserve some garlic when they are in season
At some point during the latter stages of garlic season I’ll buy extra and preserve it. I’ve been doing this by peeling the cloves, packing them into a jar and then covering with olive oil. This seems to keep them for a couple of months at least. You also end up with a really garlicky-flavoured olive oil which you can use, once the garlic has gone.
This is just a method I made up myself, so I’d be interested to know if any of you have tried preserving garlic?
Do you cook without garlic?
Photograph by Ian-S.
03 August, 2011
Comments
Hello Kathryn! I can so relate to your first paragraph. I, too, never realised garlic was seasonal until I started frequenting farmers’ markets! Good ol’ farmers’ markets for some education, hey? Yes, as you say, there really is no substitute for garlic. I love your idea of preserving garlic, too – much better than using garlic powder, which I am at the moment in my curries. I must keep preserving in mind when the garlic season kicks in. (BTW, I am growing garlic for the first time in my veggie patch. I truly am a terrible gardener, but I hope the garlic harvest will be bountiful!)
ditto to all the discoveries above. Shocked to discover garlic was seasonal – dumb to recognize in hindsight thou isnt it?? Of course it is!!!! Everything is!!!. I preserve garlic to- with some quiet reserve. garlic needs to be treated carefully as when deprived of oxygen- ie- preserved in oil, botulism spores if present, are activated. Google garlic botulism and the science will be explained. I preserve mine now in white balsamic or pure lemon juice or freeze in melted butter. This is why you cant get good oil preserved garlic in the stores.
I haven’t really caught onto this – I have started to see garlic coming from different parts of the world in the shops but haven’t really twigged when it is in season – though I use some many other flavours that I suspect I could do without it – I have started using some garlic powder lately (albeit reluctantly but the recipes really need it) so this might be a way around it – though am not sure what processes are used to create it.
I guess we don’t go through garlic as fast as some, but I’ve noticed mine keeps well for a long time in the fridge, even all winter sometimes. We also cut up & freeze the garlic scapes to use in stir-fries later in the year.
Interesting post — I’m also heavily reliant on garlic but haven’t considered it a “seasonal vegetable” before now.
Have you considered freezing garlic? I did that with cilantro this summer. I wonder if the freezer would smell like garlic all year?
Though I eat seasonally the majority of the time, there are things which I never do without – like garlic. The thought of being without it depresses me. :)
We grow enough garlic to see us through the year. We keep it the traditional way: let the bulbs dry in the sun a bit after harvest, plant and then hang somewhere cool and dry till you need it. Pretty much lasts till the next harvest, although it might start sprouting right at the end.
I meant plait not plant! We also use the stored garlic as the clove to plant for the next year.
Lesh – it is one of those d’oh moments isn’t it. Of course garlic is seasonal when you think about it. But it’s so easy not to think about it, just to assume that garlic is there all year round. I’ve noticed in many articles on seasonal eating, garlic is still almost always used in the recipes, no matter what time of year.
Kelly – thanks for your words of caution, I shall google those topics as you suggest, and then re-consider my preserving strategy.
I’ve actually never used or investigated garlic powder, so don’t know how that compares taste wise, or how it’s manufactured/dried.
Karen – thanks for your comment, I hadn’t really considered hanging enough to last the winter, I just assumed it wouldn’t last.
Also – on Twitter @Ganga108 mentioned she buys good quality garlic in season and then stores it in a hessian bag, in a cool, airy place during winter. So that’s another strategy, if you’re not growing your own.
My grandfather used to pull the garlic, leave the tops on and weave them all together in a bundle much in the same way you would with onions.
Mum would then hang them up in the garage which was cool and dark. From memory they lasted most of the winter.
I guess the problem is that unless you grow you own it’s rare get garlic with the tops on.
I put a kilo or two of organic garlic aside this year. It’s been hanging in a cotton bag in an outdoor shed and seems to have survived quite well. I refuse to buy conventional or imported garlic (bleached, Chinese waste products, air miles etc), so this has meant I haven’t had to go without this winter. Garlic chives are also handy, snipped on top of a meal before serving to give a bit of oomph.
I found this post on preserving garlic, which outlines how to freeze, why you shouldn’t be preserving in oil (yikes), how to dry and ways to preserve in oil. Looks useful.
Really glad you wrote this. I’ve been longing for decent garlic all winter, all the while failing to realise that just not buying it is really a good option.
I"m giving it up now too. There is life without garlic – for a little while at least!
I’m pretty sure you can freeze it.
I distinguish between imported food that is air-freighted, imported food that is shipped in cold-storage and imported food that is simply shipped. If it’s simply shipped then it’s probably not so bad environmentally and the export crops give an income to people in another, usually poor, country.
Oooh great post! This is a major major major hurdle for me. I LOVE garlic and eat loads of it. Great tips – this upcoming season I will buy a pallet! Will try Ganga’s methode and also preserving in the freezer – pureed in oil – sounds great because it will save time as you cook. Grazie!
gosh, kelly’s insights have me thinking that the cotton/hessian bag is the way to go!
i’m with nigel slater on this – an old column of his i read in the 90’s was about how by the time winter comes in, garlic, even that which you have carefully looked after, starts to taste acrid, too strong. i’d not thought about it until then, that garlic not only has a season, but that it has distinct stages along the way. sweet and mellow all the way through to strong and burning.
now, i just cook without it, and wait until it tastes sweet and beautiful again. for us, down here, in our mild lengthy warm season climate, the wait between is far less than it is in other places, so i’m happy without…but i can tell you now, i’m itching to get into the stuff and have to stop my brain from wanting it!
I love all of the creativity that trying to cook without garlic brought forth. I cook with garlic often. I especially like the mellow sweetness of full heads of roasted garlic.
My farmers’ market has locally produced garlic year round. It’s a bit old towards the summer and perhaps starting to sprout, but garlic can be stored for quite a long time. This year I’m growing my own and expect to have close to a year’s supply.
Such a helpful post and collection of comments! Yesterday evening I attended a Winter Gardening class & learned how & when to plant garlic. I’ll have to wait until summer 2012 to harvest my first crop, though! In the interim, I’ll buy organic from the farmers market.
Thanks for all these alternative flavouring suggestions, too, Kathryn. I’m one of those with a very low threshold for garlic (onion, too) — wish I could eat generous servings of it but it doesn’t sit well in my stomach.
Interesting, i must admit garlic (along with lemons and the odd pepper) are my short-list of things that I keep buying regardless of seasonality. I had thought that (UK) garlic kept really well so long as it was dry but I really ought to check more when buying.
I’ve tried making garlic oil in the past and then scared myself silly when i actually researched it. The garlic also started to emit bubbles in a suspect kind of way. Interesting to read in that garlic article what they have to do to make it commercially.
I the idea of the cooking challenge of becoming less reliant – we have one family member who doesn’t eat garlic and I must admit I always struggle for recipe ideas when they visit
I am exactly the same! Every meal seems to start with butter, onions and garlic. I will be a challenge for me to try and abstain, but I got a really ordinary cluster of garlic today so I’m inspired to wait till it’s in season again.
It’s lovely to read about all those of you have been encouraged to do without garlic. I’d love to hear back about your garlic-less cooking.
I made a lovely soup this week from the Martha Goes Green cookbook – a really simple Celery, Carrot and Lentil Soup. Utterly rich tasting and delicious, no garlic required.
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