Smoked garlic

[Roy Hunter]

I like a nice paella during the summer, and paella tastes fantastic if you can get your hands on smoked garlic to make it with. Unfortunately, opportunities to buy smoked garlic are few and far between, so here's my question.

Given that I live in a flat and I don't have a garden, what is the best way for me to smoke garlic myself without incurring the wrath of my neighbours and the Fire Brigade, and without dyeing kitchen a dirty yellow colour? I have a fairly standard kitchen, a fairly standard stove, but I know absolutely nothing about smoking stuff. Oh - I should add that I am quite badly asthmatic, and breathing in lots of smoke could kill me.

I am expecting that Scott and PG will have something to offer, but does anyone else have any ideas?

[Cardinal Fang]

Saint Jamie Oliver has a home smoking instruction using a biscuit tin here: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fish-recipes/smoked-salmon-with-chilli-salsa

It's for fish (and on the Jamie Oliver forum people have tried other meats and fish), so don't know how it would work with garlic, but worth a try. Saint Jamie does recommend doing it outside or on the BBQ if you don't want to make your kitchen smoky. I was looking at it and thinking that if it's a nice day, try doing it in your garden with your camping gas stove.

CF

[daftbeaker]

Depending on how bored you are you could probably cook up a pretty efficient indoor smoker.

A flowerpot with two circles of chickenwire to hold the charcoal and garlic. Duck tape a funnel upside down to the top and put a line of plastic hose on top of that. Running that through to an aspirator should pull the smoke through and dissolve most of it.

Should be able to do that on your hob. As usual actually following my ideas is probably dangerous and I accept no responsibility for anything

[KC Observer]

I have found that the best way to smoke garlic is to crush or mince it and use a water bong. Smoking it with rolling papers makes for a harsher toke.

[Roy Hunter]

I have found that the best way to smoke garlic is to crush or mince it and use a water bong. Smoking it with rolling papers makes for a harsher toke.

Twenty years ago, I might have tried that...

:crusty_old_FSM:

[KC Observer]

I have also found that garlic shoots are tasty to use like chives on a salad. growing garilic is rediculously easy. weait for a few of your cloves to sprout and the just stick 'em in the ground, shoot side up. even of the clove doesn't produce well, one can use the shoots on their salads. You do have to be patient though; the cloves take some time to prodice mature bulbs.

[PantyGnawer]

Whatever you do it will have to be outside. Do you have a grill?

[daftbeaker]

Thread necromancy!

It's not smoked garlic but lobbing individual garlic cloves into a tray of roasting veg is brilliant. Chop/slice veg into bits, oven with oil on for an hour at about 220'C (taking out and very quickly stirring with a spatula every quarter hour), veg comes out tasting lovely. If your family is like mine they won't eat the garlic, save for another time. Or eat it like I do, either one, it's beautifully soft and sweet

[Roy Hunter]

Thread necromancy!

It's not smoked garlic but lobbing individual garlic cloves into a tray of roasting veg is brilliant. Chop/slice veg into bits, oven with oil on for an hour at about 220'C (taking out and very quickly stirring with a spatula every quarter hour), veg comes out tasting lovely. If your family is like mine they won't eat the garlic, save for another time. Or eat it like I do, either one, it's beautifully soft and sweet

220°C is a bit hot - especially for a fan oven - I wouldn't cook garlic at more than 180°C because it goes sour when it dries out. But yes, it is fantastic in roasted veggies, roast potatoes etc. You can use it to 'temper' the oil, like using cardamom, black onion seeds or coriander seeds in a curry. But don't go too hot. Heat the oil to 170 - 180°C, take the garlic out, put the spuds / veggies in.

In other news, four-and-a-half years down the line, I have a garden and a barbecue and half-a-dozen bulbs of oak-smoked garlic in the freezer. I haven't had paella in a while either.

[ElBuitre]

Hi to everybody!
Have to be the FSM in action.
My first day, and find this about.

Garlic? Paella? Necromancy? Vegans?

I have recently 'kickstarted' a man that makes a cooking program in youtube that I discovered by fb at a FSM Church post. At the 3:20 you could see the process for garlic as traditional at my country (clue: paella). But the entire video is full of good sh**t. I'm neither vegar nor necro... but I recommend to you, The Vegan Black Metal Chef makes PASTAGEDDON.

https://youtu.be/zT_ZCP78VxY

Enjoy!