Garlic with the X-Factor

Photo © Rob Jones

I don’t hold with mystique … especially when it comes to food.

If I am eating out in a fancy restaurant, there’s always a tricky moment when, (after checking the order of the cutlery,) I have to ask what some of the items on the menu actually are.

Watching a programme like MasterChef helps.

At least then I can see the thing with the fancy name and have a decent chance of working out what it actually is. For example:

Ballotine - Stuffed Chicken or Pork wrapped in cling film and poached.

Fondant - Lumps of potato cooked in butter or stock.

Quenelle - Oval shapes (of ice cream.)

Foam - (Oh don’t get me started) - it’s just spittle.

De-constructed - Can’t be bothered to serve it properly.

Sous-Vide - Vacuum packed and pressure cooked. Why? Just why bother?

Consommé - Soup without the scum.

Then there’s Amuse Guele, Foraged, Coulis, Dust, Dulse, Bullshot, Millefeuille, I could go on.

Then there are the ingredients … but that’s more fun. There is nothing like finding a new ingredient that changes your life forever. That happened with Miso Paste, and now …

Behold - Black Garlic.

Mentioned on tele, but seldom seen until I found it what we used to call the ‘health food’ shop up the road, but it’s a wholefood deli these days. I found a pot from a company appropriately called Black Garlic.

Put simply - it’s thought to have originated in South Korea. It has health benefits they say, and adds fabulous flavour to all the usual suspects - the bologneses, soups etc. Flavour likened to molasses, tamarind and caramel.

You can make them yourself… though I suspect there is an art to it.

R