It never gets old. That moment when you've heated oil in a frying pan, and toss in the minced garlic. It hits the skillet and sizzles, turning golden as it releases that savory aroma. You feel a surge of confidence. Now you're really cooking, right?
Wrong. Because odds are, that garlic has turned from a delicate pale gold to a toasty dark brown in just a few seconds—usually right about the time when you realized you forgot to chop the onions you want to add to the pan next. And then your garlic's pretty much a disaster. Even if it's not actually burned, it's still not delicious. The darker it gets, the more intense and acrid that "garlicky" flavor.
The solution? It's simple. Sacrifice the sizzle.
It's a trick I learned from the wise words of Italian food legend Marcella Hazan. Instead of hurling your garlic into hot oil, start cooking your garlic and oil in a cold pan. Turn on the heat, and wait a minute or two. Within 10 or 20 seconds, the garlic will start to percolate, gently bubbling and releasing its flavor into the oil. You'll start stirring it, and it'll cook slowly, steadily, to the exact shade of pale gold you want to make the perfect tomato sauce. Or drizzle over broccoli. Or use to make garlic bread.
Yes, you'll lose that cheffy sizzle. But you'll gain something much greater. Food that actually tastes better.
Just be sure to keep stirring the garlic as it cooks—those little bits can still go from golden to brown in seconds if you don't stir. And have whatever you're planning on adding to the pan at the ready. There's nothing worse than watching your garlic scorch because you're having trouble opening up a can of tomatoes.
And the cold-pan trick works just as well for onions—when you want them tender, sweet, and golden rather than browned but still crunchy and sharp-tasting, start them in a cold pan. Just wait to add the garlic until the onion's almost done. Even when you start slow, that garlic cooks fast.
