I love garlic and could use it in just about every savory recipe – and lots of it. My husband, daughter and her family like garlic but less so. A wonderful compromise to satisfy all garlic tastes is garlic confit. You still have all the wonderful delicious garlic flavor in confit but it's a smoother, softer umami-rich garlic flavor without the fresh garlic pungency.
It's time consuming to peel garlic but once it's done whenever you want some garlic flavor in a recipe you have it at the ready.
If you're not familiar with garlic confit and confit as a cooking technique it simply refers to any food slow cooked in oil or fat, or sugar water (syrup). The most common confit dishes are garlic confit and duck confit but you can also make chicken confit, egg yolk confit, vegetable confit, and many other dishes. The concept is always the same: the food is slow cooked in oil or fat (or a syrup for fruit) in a sub-simmer.
A simmer is when a liquid is just barely bubbling and getting ready to move into a boil. A sub-simmer is what I call a bit less than a simmer, in other words teeny tiny bubbles that are just about ready to simmer.
The boring and time consuming part is peeling the garlic so get yourself set up and listen to your favorite podcast while you peel the cloves.
Pro tip: to speed up the garlic peeling process place all the cloves in a jar and shake vigorously for a minute. This is usually sufficient to remove most of the peels.
Ways to use garlic confit:
As a dressing for cooked vegetables: mash up some of the garlic with the extra-virgin olive oil and toss with cooked vegetables for some added garlic flavor.
Add to a salad dressing.
Garlic bread: Mix with soft butter and spread on toasted crusty bread.
Add to mashed potatoes, risottos and pasta dishes or spread on grilled fish, meats and veggies.
Let's face it - just about any savory dish is better with a bit of garlic confit!
The oil left over after you confit garlic has a wonderful flavor and is great drizzled on bruschetta or used in other recipes.
Great recipes that are even greater with garlic confit
Substitute garlic confit for fresh garlic in this Penne Pasta with Garlic, Hot Pepper, Parsley and Anchovies pasta dish.
Use some garlic confit for the marinade in my Chicken Marbella recipe.
My Bread and Tomato appetizer is delicious with a little bit of garlic confit.
Are you looking for a confit cookbook? Check out this one: Pâté, Confit, Rillette: Recipes from the Craft of Charcuterie.
Ingredients
- 2 to 3 heads of garlic
- 237 ml Extra-virgin olive oil enough to fully cover the garlic cloves in a small cooking pot
Instructions
Peel the garlic:
- This is the boring and time consuming part of making garlic confit so get yourself set up and listen to your favorite podcast while you peel the cloves.
- Break apart each head of garlic and separate into cloves.
- Next, peel each individual clove.
- Use a paring knife to slice off the root end of each clove.
- Now use your fingers and the paring knife to gently coax the peel off of each clove.
- Set the peeled garlic cloves aside in a separate bowl.
- Keep a damp dish towel on hand to wipe off your fingers as they get sticky from the cloves and make the peeling process more difficult.
- If you find a tiny part of a clove that's bruised just slice it off and discard.
- Pro tip: to speed up the garlic peeling process place all the cloves in a jar and shake vigorously for a minute. This is usually sufficient to remove most of the peels.
Make the garlic confit:
- Place all of the cloves in a small pot and generously cover completely with extra-virgin olive oil.
- Put the pan on the stove over the smallest flame possible.
- Sub-simmer the cloves for about 45 minutes until they are soft, fragrant and turning just golden. Note: It may only take a half an hour, or it may take an hour.
- A simmer is when a liquid is just barely bubbling and getting ready to move into a boil. A sub-simmer is what I call a bit less than a simmer, in other words teeny tiny bubbles that are just about ready to simmer.
- This is hard to achieve because the flame must be small and extremely low. I find if I place the pot on the burner - and just to the side of the burner so the pot is barely touching the flame - I can achieve a sub-simmer.
Storing the garlic confit:
- As soon as the garlic confit is done transfer it to a glass jar and keep refrigerated, covered. You can store garlic confit refrigerated for about two weeks. Alternatively freeze garlic confit and it will last for several months.
Notes
Botulism is deadly and occurs in low acid foods that are stored at room temperature in a low oxygen environment, and low sugar. Garlic confit fits the bill on all counts so handle and store it properly for complete safety:
*Always keep the garlic confit refrigerated.
*Each time you use garlic or the oil remove it with a clean and sterile spoon.
*Use the garlic confit within two weeks and then discard. Ways to use garlic confit:
As a dressing for cooked vegetables: mash up some of the garlic with the extra-virgin olive oil and toss with cooked vegetables for some added garlic flavor.
Add to a salad dressing.
Garlic bread: Mix with soft butter and spread on toasted crusty bread.
Add to mashed potatoes, risottos and pasta dishes or spread on grilled fish and meats.
Let's face it - just about any savory dish is better with a bit of garlic confit! What is confit anyhow? Confit is a cooking technique that refers to any food slow cooked in oil or fat, or sugar water (syrup). The most common confit dishes are garlic confit and duck confit but you can also make chicken confit, egg yolk confit, vegetable confit, and many other dishes. The concept is always the same: the food is slow cooked in oil or fat (or a syrup for fruit) in a sub-simmer.
Nutrition
Botulism
Botulism is deadly and occurs in low acid foods that are stored at room temperature in a low oxygen environment, and low sugar. Garlic confit fits the bill on all counts so handle and store it properly for complete safety:
*Always keep the garlic confit refrigerated.
*Each time you use garlic confit or the oil remove it with a clean and sterile spoon.
*Use the garlic confit within two weeks and then discard.
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This is the most thorough description of how to make garlic confit that I could find. All the ins and outs that might pose a problem, you've taken care to answer. Thanks! I've read that cooking garlic over a temp of 130 C (266 F) degrades its health benefits, but I haven't yet found out why. The confit method cuts the cooking time down by half at least. That's a win!
Thanks Rhonda! Super glad the description works for you! I really try to dig down to the details for a recipe like this and I'm glad it was clear.