Food Network chef Bobby Flay has been cooking for decades. A graduate of the French Culinary Institute, Flay has plenty of favorite ingredients and techniques that have led him to host a variety of TV shows, including “Beat Bobby Flay” and “Bobby’s Triple Threat.” The chef adds garlic to many of his recipes, but he has a specific method for ensuring it blends seamlessly into a dish. “I like to crush it into a paste,” he tells Ina Garten on an episode of her show, “Be My Guest.”
To make the paste, Flay has a quick and easy technique; he coarsely chops the garlic, then flips his knife and crushes the garlic with the flat side. Afterward, he adds salt, and crushes the garlic again, repeating the process until a paste-like consistency has formed. “I want the garlic to kind of melt away into the pan,” Flay says. This way, people get the garlic flavor in every bite, but they’re not biting into actual pieces of the vegetable.
@foodnetwork @Bobby Flay shares his pro tip for preparing garlic that melts away into the pan đź‘Ź #bemyguest
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There are countless ways to prepare garlic
Bobby Flay’s method for creating a garlic paste is perfect when you want all of the garlic flavor without endless chopping or mincing, which also impacts its intensity. But garlic is a versatile veggie that has a home in all kinds of dishes, and there are many ways to prepare it to get the flavor you desire and a similar, paste-like texture to Flay’s preferred form. If you want to infuse a dish with garlic without spending time prepping it the way Flay does, you can simply peel the clove and add it into the sauce or anything you’re making. As it cooks, the flavor will infuse, then you can remove the clove before serving, or crush it into a paste much more easily by the time the meal is done because the garlic will have had a chance to roast in the pan.
For a milder garlic flavor that melts into a paste, roast the garlic before adding it to a dish. Cut the top of a garlic bulb, slightly exposing the cloves, then drizzle it with a generous amount of olive oil. Wrap the bulb in tin foil and roast it in the oven, where it will soften to the point where you can squeeze it out of the bulb like a paste.
