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When you’re cooking a nice piece of meat, you want your pan sizzling hot before you drop in the main ingredient, right? A lot of people think that a piping hot pan is the first step for any recipe but that’s actually a misconception, especially when you’re talking about today’s main ingredient: garlic.

I absolutely love cooking with garlic. The smell, the sound, the feeling, the excitement because you know how good it’ll taste once it hits your tongue – it’s all intoxicating. But it can go south real quick if you aren’t careful. It only takes a few seconds in an over heated pan for your garlic to go from beautiful golden to ominous black. Boom. Ruined.

Don’t worry though because it’s not a difficult problem to avoid. Simply start cooking your oil and garlic in a cold pan instead of one that’s already sizzling hot. Add oil and garlic to a cold pan, turn on the heat and sit back for a minute or two. It’ll only take a few moments for the world’s favorite ingredient to infuse its flavor into the oil. Start gently stirring and allow it to cook slowly. With garlic, it’s always “slow and steady wins the race.” But stirring is key. If you let it sit stagnant in the heat, it’ll still turn charred and bitter.

A couple of good tips to keep in mind:

1. Have the rest of your ingredients ready to go. How frustrating is it when you end up burning your garlic because you forgot to chop the onions and open up the stewed tomatoes?
2. If you’re sautéing garlic with other vegetables, wait to add the garlic until the veggies are almost done. Remember, garlic cooks super quick and doesn’t need much time to add flavor.

Garlic is one of my favorite things to cook with and I know I’m not alone. Use these simple hacks to make sure the flavor and integrity of the ingredient stays where you want it to be.

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Rebecca McKinney

I was born a foodie. My dad is a chef, baker, and restaurant owner and my mom might as well be because she owns whatever kitchen she walks into. I grew up working in my family’s restaurant and bakery in Pawling, New York – McKinney and Doyle. I started behind the bakery counter at 12 years old after begging my parents to let me start working. At 16 I worked as a hostess. By 18 I was serving tables and training behind the bar where I then worked every other weekend throughout my college career. Even now, when I am visiting my family in New York, I help out where I’m needed. To make a long story short, the food and restaurant industry has been my life for as long as I can remember.

I wanted to create this blog for a few reasons. First and foremost, to share tips, tricks, and knowledge about the food and beverage industry in general but also to help people see a different side of the restaurant world. Every restaurant has a totally unique culture and world within it. I want to help open people’s eyes to more than how fast the service is or how easy or hard it is to secure a reservation.

So, thanks for stopping by! I welcome your ideas, input, and feedback and hope you enjoy!

Eat well & travel often,

Becky McKinney

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