Quick Tip: Rub The Salad Bowl with Garlic
We love garlic in our vinaigrettes, but find that the raw stuff often becomes too pungent and overpowering. A chef friend recently suggested we try rubbing the salad bowl with a clove of garlic. The result is magical: a pleasant background note of garlic infused throughout the salad. You have to try this!
We think this garlic tip works in two ways. First, much of our sense of taste actually comes from our sense of smell, so we think that smelling the garlic from the bowl tricks our tastebuds into actually tasting it.
And secondly, we think the garlic juice gradually mixes into the vinaigrette as we’re eating and moving the greens around the bowl. This is just enough to add a touch of garlic flavor without the bright pungency of actual minced garlic.
Either way, we love this new technique! Do you like garlic in your salads?
• Salad Pictured Above: Orange, Olive, and Fennel Salad
(Images: Faith Durand; Emma Christensen)