Roasting Garlic

Do you want it more caramelized, or a bit crisp at the edges?

In a clay pot, covered, with a little olive oil, in a 350 degree oven, until soft.

I like to wrap them individually in foil, and roast at at 425 until stinky, soft and caramelized a tad.

Point up for crispier, point down for sweeter. At least that's how I learned it.

in foil, drizzled with a tiny bit of olive oil, on the bbq/grill/griddle (or in the oven)

That works. I use roasted garlic for different things, and if it's a dressing, say for low-fat afficianados, I don't bother with the oil. My roasted garlic-buttermilk Caesar dressing comes to mind. Garlic roasts quite nicely without oil. Now, when roasting a chicken, I love to throw a half-head of garlic and tons of fresh herbs in the cavity, roast it on a nice mirepoix with potatoes. Then...of course...slurp up the chicken fat drenched roasted garlic...oh yeah...

I like to eat it straight up from the grill. mmmmmmmmm


Or on rye toast with a bitta goat cheese and some roasted red peppers.


Actually, I'm having a hard time thinking of a way I don't like roasted garlic.

Good point ehBeth. I don't think it really matters HOW one roasts it, it's just better roasted.

Grilled green beans - with roasted garlic bits.

Lamb chops rubbed with garlic and then served with garlic mashed taters and




ohhhhhhh gawd I'm so hungry

Heh heh. Sometimes in a pinch, I just toss unpeeled cloves into the roasting pan, then just eat them when it's all done.

o.k. - so here's a new variant

garlic oiled and wrapped and put into the waffle iron (heat on both sides, and i was hungry and home late)

sauteed 1/2 BIG vidalia onion and 1/2 pound of sliced mushrooms in a little bit of olive oil and butter - smushed the roasted garlic in as the mushrooms were sweating down

two long slices of pugliese bread with a shmeer of goat cheese - topped with the garlic/onion/mushroom mess - ground on some black pepper and about 4 grains of sea salt - it was orgasmic - perfect on a cool rainy/almost snowy evening when you're still drying from your quick pop-by at the Ukrainian Embassy

That sounds really good, ehBeth.

~~~

I have a terra cotta garlic roaster, and I followed the instructions exactly. I also tried the foil method.

Both ways I wound up with some dark, bitter areas on the cloves.

I'll keep trying...

hmmmmm, is your oven perhaps heating above the temp you set it to, primergray?
are you waiting til the oven's warm before you put the garlic in?



oops, had to fix the spelling of your name. i tried to canajunize it :wink:

I wait until the oven beeps, but from what I saw on Alton Brown once, that might not be long enough. It takes forever for my oven to heat up, though, and I hate waiting any longer.

Maybe things will improve when the broiler element gets fixed? Does it come on when preheating?

Every oven has its own personality, but I know that mine gets hotter than the desired temperature on its way to the correct temp, so if I was getting over-heated/scorched/bitter garlic bits in my oven, that would be evidence that I hadn't pre-heated the oven properly.

primergrey - in my oven, the top and bottom elements are controlled separately, so the broiler won't come on for pre-heating unless I set it that way. Having both elements on would definitely pre-heat the oven faster.

It is the oven temp problem. I roasted some in foil with the turkey on Thaksgiving. The turkey had been in for an hour already at 325. The garlic came out perfect.

primer, buy an oven thermometer.

I was having similar problems, bought a thermometer, and discovered that it takes nearly 30 minutes for my oven to get to 350. (The light goes off after about 10 minutes.) Also, my oven gets hotter than the knob is set to - by about 25 or 50 degrees!

I always do that....

great news about the garlic, primergray!

i hope you made extra