People around here are serious about their garlic. We've hosted several conversations that got you pretty animated, debating the relative merits of garlic chopping gadgets and methods.
Well, I've always been a chef's knife girl myself; who needs another gadget when you have a good heavy knife to cut, whack, and smash? But then I received this RoyalVKB Garlic Crusher ($20, MOMA) as a gift, and last night I finally got around to trying it out.
Hoo boy - when it comes to smashed and minced, this thing has won me over.
One of its primary selling points is rather silly. They claim that the hands-free, stainless steel gadget keeps the smell from getting all over your hands. Well, you have to scrape the garlic out of the little grooves after you smash it so that is irrelevant.
No, the thing that I love about this tool is that it is fast and effective. It's very heavy; just one firm roll over a clove of garlic and I had a pile of fragrant minced pieces to throw into the pot. It cleans up easily too; just a rinse and wash - no pulling apart gadget pieces or scrubbing the bowl of a garlic press.
This product, incidentally, was the recipient of a Red Dot Design Award. I second it.
Microplane!
How heavy is heavy?
What they say in that linked page is that you "wash" your hands with it afterwards and the stainless steel gets the smell off your hands--not that it prevents your hands from getting garlic all over them.
It looks cool, but you still have to peel the garlic beforehand, don't you?
I bought one for each of my best friends and one for myself from Cooper-Hewitt's online shop at Christmastime, and I adore it. The deodorizing effect of the stainless steel really does work.
the stainless steel thing is true - my parents used to have the stainless steel disc that you rubbed after touching smelling stuff and it really did help get the onion or garlic smell off your hands.
I always just rubbed my hands on the sink faucet if they got really smelly and that seemed to do the trick. I just like having this really heavy thing with grooves! Very cathartic too. How heavy? Maybe a couple pounds? I'm bad at estimating, though... Amy?
Cool looking but for less money I'd go with the Garlic Twist tool....the back of the unit quickly takes off the skin and you just twist the cloves to mince. I love it.
http://www.utilitieshome.com/store.php?crn=85&rn=571&action=show_detail
I suppose if I used a lot of garlic, then this gadget would come in very very handy. However, it usually takes me a while to use up a whole head unless I'm deliberately roasting the whole thing for a recipe. A knife and my fingernails is all I need. And also a quick rubbing on the faucet and some soap & water to get the smell off.
It looks interesting but I am suspicious that it would end up unused at the back of that drawer filled with other unused things! I do however like the fact that there are no hinges or moving parts to break! Otherwise it is still chefs knife for me.
It would be fun to get as a gift, but to purchase it, it would eventually sit in the gadget drawer.
Chefs knife or micro plane!