Unpeeled garlic cloves in French / Belgian cooking?
I am looking through some recipes that came with a French pressure cooker I just bought (in Belgium). It seems most of the recipes that use garlic ask for one or two upeeled garlic cloves (ongeschilde teentjes knoflook). Is this really a thing, or am I misunderstanding something? If you include unpeeled garlic cloves, do you still chop off the end that used to connect to the heart?
Best Answer
Unpeeled onions and garlic help thicken liquids (just a little). The skins of onions and garlic are at least 10% pectin, the substance that is used to thicken jellies. If you are making a stock or a soup, you can place the washed unpeeled garlic or onion quarters in an oversized herb sachet. After cooking you remove the sachet and discard its contents.
The skins have also been found to be rich in antioxidants. You can read all about the science of garlic and onions in Garlic and Other Alliums. While it does discuss the antioxidant effects of Alliums in general it does not treat the particular compounds that have been discovered in the skins.
Pictures about "Unpeeled garlic cloves in French / Belgian cooking?"
Can you cook with unpeeled garlic?
Roast them with unpeeled garlic Don't worry if the skin burns a little; you can squeeze the lovely, mushy roasted garlic out of the skin onto your plate. They will make the tastiest morsels on your Sunday roast dinner plate!Why do chefs cook garlic with skin?
The cloves of garlic are left unpeeled as this helps to keep the cloves intact and reduces the risk of burning. Peeling the individual cloves from a whole bulb (head) of garlic is also rather fiddly and time consuming so it is easier to cook them unpeeled.Can you put unpeeled garlic in a stew?
If you don't have bones or don't eat meat, no fear\u2014the onion and garlic skins alone make a wonderful, flavorful vegetable stock. Just put them in a pot, cover them with water to about an inch short of the top of the pot, and simmer them gently for several hours before straining them out and saving the liquid.Can you eat garlic skin?
Garlic peel isn't dangerous to eat. Most people wouldn't want to eat it, since it's pretty papery and can sometimes be a bit tough and fibrous, but I guess if you don't mind, go for it. There's not really any difference between the outer and inner layers of the peel.Roasted Garlic Without A Hot Oven ~ Noreen's Kitchen
More answers regarding unpeeled garlic cloves in French / Belgian cooking?
Answer 2
According to Trash Backwards, leaving skins on garlic in a roast allows the garlic to cook more evenly. There are multiple suggestions out there that say that the skins add additional flavor and nutrients to a broth.
Answer 3
It actually makes sense if preparing a broth or stock: you don't want the skin to come out while cooking and float in the stock: it won't be pleasant to see nor to eat.
On the other side, when roasting or sautéing, leaving the skin on helps avoiding the cloves burn, which would give an unpleasant taste.
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