Ina Garten's Clever Trick For Peeling Garlic
Advertisements
The job of peeling garlic can be a literal chore with many techniques out there to help make things easier like avoiding the work altogether by buying garlic "pre-peeled."
About 30-seconds into a Food Network video posted on YouTube, even Garten admits "nobody wants to peel 24 cloves of garlic" and applies a technique called "blanching" to assist with the task. Blanching is where food is placed in boiling water "for a brief period and then quickly placed in ice water" to stop the cooking process while preserving the flavor and vitamins of the ingredient (per Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics).
Despite not being a formally trained chef herself (via Business Insider India), the technique is something "every chef who's been through culinary school" would know (via PJP). The savvy cook and author has adapted the method in her kitchen and takes it one step further. After boiling the cloves in water for "about 15 seconds," Garten reaches for a paring knife to apply added leverage where the "skins slip right off."
If you can't be bothered with the blanching process, try this fast method for peeling garlic instead.