- Chopping Garlic

Dear Friends of Hounds Who Cook,

We have a dear relation who grew up in the land of Vietnam and she is the one who taught our girl, "Me" the best of all possible ways to mince up garlic for cooking. Here is Thi Thi's (Tina) expert method:

Mincing Garlic
1. Pull the desired garlic cloves off of the head. 2. With skin intact, lay the cloves on their sides on a cutting board. (We use a wooden one.) 3. Using the flat side of a large butcher knife, press firmly on each clove to crush it. 4. Remove the peel, which has likely come off in a shell from the crushing. 5. Slice off the root end of the clove and discard (or put in your "stock bag*," if you have one) 6. Now dice up the crushed garlic heads. Since they are already crushed, which releases the flavor, we and Tina believe that they don't need to be minced as finely as you might do otherwise.

Mmm. A hound can hardly bear the aroma.

*A stock bag is an old plastic bag our girl, Me, leaves in the freezer door at all times. In it she puts the inedible-yet-flavorful vegetable and fruit parts that the average chopper would discard. Read up on how to make vegetable stock from these yummies in the Vegetable Broth - Something from Nothing post.