Boring/random topic alert…
We use a lot of garlic and keep thinking we find a good garlic press/crusher. Then before long it breaks.
The ones which you can just put a whole clove in without having to peel are the best, and ones which are easy to clean. There are plenty of these, but few which seem to last very long.
Any good ones to look out for having broken one again this weekend…?
Yeah I've bent or broken a few in past years too - but the one I have now seems pretty indestructible. No idea of the brand or where it came from (which shows it must be quite old!) but the key thing is that it's made of thick solid cast metal rather than folded steel
Like in soloing vs trad climbing - you can gain great spiritual growth by trimming back your reliance on pointless single-use kitchen items/appliances.
When I do a large amount of garlic I just tw@t it all over with a meat hammer and peel the cloves by hand. It takes seconds.
Ours is by Joseph Joseph and seems very robust.
You can put a full unpeeled clove in and does the job ok.
Comes apart for easy cleaning
About £14 from amazon
We've got an Ikea one.
Just googled it. It's called Koncis.
I'm happy with it. I put garlic in just about everything.
My parents have been a bit obsessed with the Taylors Eye Witness one, so they bought one for me. It's good, sturdy, and lasted well so far (a few years I think). A quick google shows it scores highly on some weird review amalgamation site:
I haven't got a meat hammer
Rolling pin also works...
Garlic press not required. Large knife, trim the ends off and lay blade flat over. Hit hard with your hand works a treat and no special devices needed at all
Free yourself from pointless devices.
I cheat and buy jars of Nishaan's Minced Garlic!
I think soloing garlic crushing would mean just squashing it in your hand
This video covers all you need to know - simple, quick and no additional utensils required 9just a good knife). youtube.com/watch?v=GLSutj0rf3w&
I'm with Anthony Bourdain - if you can't be bothered to prep garlic you don't fcuking deserve to use it.
Life's too short to..
A) f*ck about when i dont need to
B) put too much faith in the opinions of a dead foodie
> Life's too short to..
> A) f*ck about when i dont need to
Best go with "smash with flat of knife, remove skin and smush" then.
> B) put too much faith in the opinions of a dead foodie
Ah. That opinion was from when he was alive.
And if you want to keep the cloves intact, just grabbing the two ends and twisting the clove slightly back and forth detaches the skin instantly.
...
> When I do a large amount of garlic I just tw@t it all over with a meat hammer and peel the cloves by hand. It takes seconds.
Or put the flat side of a knife over a clove and give it a quick whack with the heel of your hand.
I guess you don't make pastry!
I have a tupperware one I bought about 20 years ago. Not sure if they still make them so solid...
Just googled the Joseph Joseph one and it looks the same as Tupperware's
I managed for a fair few years rolling out pastry with an olive oil bottle just fine.
Got given a rolling pin that was being chucked otherwise in the end though.
> I'm with Anthony Bourdain - if you can't be bothered to prep garlic you don't fcuking deserve to use it.
His rant about garlic presses was the first thing that jumped into my head. I used to live in a big shared house with a very strong kitchen culture and we had his commandments on the wall. I’ve never seen anything wrong with crushers myself but since reading Kitchen Confidential when it came out I’ve only ever used a big knife, and I use tons of garlic.
Are you suggesting the 'laborious' method shown (that's how the man in the video described it) or buying it in a jar (his preferred method)?
Another consideration should be a microplane grater. Takes about 10 seconds per clove rather than the 5 for a crusher but produces a more even result (other than lots of juice and pulverised flesh) and can be used on loads of other stuff - ginger (even frozen), nutmeg, parmesan, whatever - as well as garlic.
> Another consideration should be a microplane grater. Takes about 10 seconds per clove rather than the 5 for a crusher but produces a more even result (other than lots of juice and pulverised flesh) and can be used on loads of other stuff - ginger (even frozen), nutmeg, parmesan, whatever - as well as garlic.
And delivers more yield as you also grate parts of your fingers in there too. No bother, they taste like garlic from handling it anyway. Win win.
Classic UKC ! James innocently asks about a new garlic press ( just the kind of thing I might ask ) and gets more replies telling him he doesn’t need one than suggestions . Why not let him be the judge of wether or not he needs a garlic press ? As it happens my trusty Zyliss just gave up after I reckon 14 years and probably 1000 s of cloves . I couldn’t find the same one so just bought a fancy zyliss one this weekend . I have to say at the moment it’s a bit too clever for its own good and I wish I would have just got on line and found exactly the same one . I’ll post links but the one I had was very simple and just what you need , the one I have just got has two extra bit that seem to make it harder to use !
The one I had : https://zyliss.co.uk/products/zyliss-susi-3-garlic-press
the one I have just got :
https://zyliss.co.uk/products/zyliss-easy-release-garlic-press
I heard about a dog armed with a garlic crusher attacking a cyclist who was using fireworks to knock the quickdraws down from someone else's sport project. On ice.
I'm a Covid denier and I claim my £5.
I could probably make you one in my forge that would last a lifetime but the cost of the materials needed would be significantly more than you could buy one for and when you factor in my time to do it the cost would be £100 plus.
It would also need to join the projects list so it wouldn't happen until mid next year.
I’ve had a Jamie Oliver garlic crusher for years. It’s really heavy and hasn’t broken yet.
We use one of these - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Garlic-Crusher-Kitchen-Stainless-Ergonomics/dp/B09...
All garlic presses are not the easiest things to clean and this one is no different, but it is no worse than any other.
Dave
> I guess you don't make pastry!
No, but I assume that yours taste of garlic?
I've got one that's probably 40 years old or more with a lot of use. Cast metal (stainless steel I think) I suspect the manufacturer is out of business by now tho
Gérard Depardieu crushes it with his fist, I seem to recall from some film I watched long ago...
We have a lakeland plastic one which has been good to use and clean.
I broke our last garlic press(Oxo (not-so) good grips) so went on a far-to-long garlic press research journey. Ended up with a Fissler one that I don’t think will break any time soon. You may not want to spend £30 on a thing to crush vegetables though. It is shiny though. Shiiinneeeyyy ;O)
The Alex Honnold of cookery.
My garlic crush never breaks. It's the heel of my hand and a knife. A tiny bit slower perhaps than using a press but, I hate cleaning the things afterwards.
edit: Oh, I see a lot of people beat me to it. Sorry
After reading the thread I have this vision of climbers that spend hours training grip strength letting loose on garlic presses and breaking the hinge.
> I cheat and buy jars of Nishaan's Minced Garlic!
I used to buy toothpaste-type tubes of crushed garlic when I cooked, saves washing a spoon
Follow me (dont follow me..)
I've got my spine
I've got my Garlic Crush.
(REM's greatest break through hit that never was...)
Real men crush garlic with their ego's
Love the one my mum got me one from ikea years ago
Much better than the rubbish one I had frin tesco
We had the IKEA one for a few years which worked great, then replaced it with a super expensive gefu one which was rubbish.
Last week I bought myself a Leifheit Knobi-King as I liked the idea there was nothing to go wrong. So far so good, and by far the easiest to clean I've ever had.
Digressing a bit from the mechanics of crushing garlic. Does anyone else sometimes use garlic to staunch a cut?
Dave
We have this one and it fits your requirements very well. It is a very well used bit of kit in our house
https://www.kuhnrikon.co.uk/epicurean-garlic-press?utm_source=google_shoppi...
Wow, at the time of writing this has had more replies than all but 3 of the last month of UKC official posts. Only beaten by:
1) A mountain first ascent - which involved some controversy.
2) A competition to win adventures which had some controversy
3) An ascent of Hubble which descended into grade and knee-bar debates.
Perhaps a re-name of the forum is in order? UKMoaning, perhaps
That’s a joke before anyone gets too upset
However many thanks for all the replies. I’ll have a read through the recommendations and order something later. I don’t really fancy just using a knife as the default option (though I do still do it this way sometimes - just prefer the crusher option).
Happy cooking all!