1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (192 page)

It doesn’t take the nose of an investigative journalist to discover that garlic intensifies the flavor of anything it touches. Whether it is an improvement or a violation depends upon your point of view. This is a love-it-or-hate-it bulb with a vibrant aroma that leaves its mark wherever it reaches—from the hands that prepare it to the breath of those who love to eat it, as well as the cutting boards and knife blades in between. It is by all odds the most pungent member of the
Allium
family, which is saying something considering its siblings are leeks and onions. Many are physically allergic to its powerful oils.

There are dozens of varieties of garlic, which can be divided into two main categories: soft-neck (
Allium sativum sativum
, large plants whose milder bulbs are commonly sold in groceries) and hard-neck (
Allium sativum ophioscorodon
, spicier varieties whose bulbs form around hard, central stalks, also known as garlic scapes, which can be used much like chives). One bulb of garlic can contain anywhere from five to twenty separate cloves, each wrapped in a papery white skin. So-called elephant garlic, while containing the same number of cloves per bulb, does so in a gigantic way—but the appeal is more to the eye than to the palate, as the flavor is surprisingly mild. All varieties can be prepared in the same manner, whether eaten raw, roasted, sautéed, fried, or pickled.

Native to central Asia, garlic has been cultivated for at least 6,000 years; it’s mentioned in both the Bible and the Qur’an, and clay artifacts representing garlic bulbs were found in an Egyptian tomb dated to 3750
B.C.
The ancient Greeks and Romans dubbed garlic “the stinking rose,” even though it is a member of the lily family, but perhaps they did so because roses are known for their perfume—and so, perversely, is garlic. These days, China harvests the vast majority of the world’s garlic, but other major producers include India, South Korea, the
United States (primarily California), and Spain. More and more, in the spirit of the locavore movement, fresh artisan garlic is a favorite in farmers’ markets. Crossing geographic and cultural boundaries, the fragrant bulb in its flaky white jacket improves and enriches the cuisine of many nations on earth. In Spain, garlic is chopped and fried in olive oil, then mixed with water, torn chunks of bread, and poached eggs to create the warming, healing soup
sopa de ajo
(see
listing
). Italians incorporate it into many dishes, and it shines in
spaghetti aglio-olio
, that pasta tossed only with olive oil (
olio
) and lightly gilded flecks of garlic (
aglio
). In France, it flavors roasted meats and escargots and distinguishes the provençale sauce aioli (see
listing
), so popular with seafood, and Eastern European Jewish deli meats and cooked dishes would have no place to go without it. Across Asia and India, garlic heightens stir-fries, curries, and chutneys, and in Morocco it appears in the fiery chile-based condiment harissa. Today’s creative chefs have even been toying with it as an ingredient in the pastry kitchen, to say nothing of a seasoning in ice cream. Only in northern Europe does a little garlic go a long way.

Although non–garlic lovers often consider a devotee to be vulgar and lowbrow because of the reeking breath it causes, it is generally beloved for its savory essence and endearing bite. On a more practical note, garlic was probably first consumed for its medicinal properties. Full of antioxidants and vitamin C, it was long used in ancient health remedies, for everything from fatigue to smallpox. French gravediggers in the eighteenth century combined it with wine, believing the combination would prevent the spread of plague, and it was considered a deterrent to pre-vaccine polio, when children were thought to be protected from what was then known as infantile paralysis by wearing cloth-wrapped amulets of garlic around their necks. Soldiers in both World Wars were given garlic to eat as a guard against gangrene, and today, it’s believed to fight heart disease, the common cold, and various forms of cancer. Garlic is even believed to have supernatural properties, famously warding off the vampires who are said to be allergic to its curative elements. Garlic’s real magic power, however, is how it can transform the humblest ingredients into many of the world’s most delicious and beloved dishes.

Fashion and innovation being what they are, a new variation known as black garlic is currently on the flavor horizon, championed by creative chefs always on the prowl for something new. It is garlic that has been put through several stages of ripening or fermentation by being alternately dried and humidified until it “cooks” to a rich black color and develops overtones that are described as being sweet and somewhere between licorice and chocolate. In fact, many chefs like to call it “the new chocolate” and are using it for desserts. One advantage: no garlicky after-breath.

Where:
In San Francisco and Beverly Hills
, The Stinking Rose Garlic Restaurants,
thestinkingrose.com
. For black garlic,
in New York
, Aldea, tel 212-675-7223,
aldearestaurant.com
;
in Chicago
, Tru, tel 312-202-0001,
trurestaurant.com
.
Mail order:
Melissa’s Produce, tel 800-588-0151,
melissas.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The Garlic Lovers’ Cookbook
by Gilroy Garlic Festival Staff (1995);
The Stinking Cookbook
by Jerry Dal Bozzo (2004);
food52.com
(search chicken with 40 cloves of garlic; leg of lamb with garlic sauce);
cookstr.com
(search roasted garlic oil van aken);
saveur.com
(search gai yahng; korean dipping sauce condiment);
tastespotting.com
(search madhur jaffrey’s garlic ginger cranberry chutney);
blackgarlic.com
(search black garlic t-bone steak; mushroom and black garlic risotto);
girlichef.com
(search black garlic chocolate chunk ice cream). To learn how garlic is blackened,
naturalhealthmag.com
(search garlic but better).
Special event:
The Gilroy Garlic festival, Gilroy, CA, July, tel 408-842-1625,
gilroygarlicfestival.com
.
Tips:
Although garlic is available peeled, chopped, and packed in oil, or dried and ground into a powder, its flavor is compromised through processing, so whole fresh garlic is by far preferable. To remove garlic’s pungent scent from hands, rub them with lemon juice
and salt. To clean up breath after indulging, chewing on chlorophyll-rich parsley leaves will do as much good as commercial breath sweeteners and adds valuable nutrients to your diet.

Hai xian jiang
, which the English-speaking world knows as hoisin sauce, may sound like a well-worn food cliché but is in fact a flavor base that lies at the very heart of the Chinese food tradition. Thick, richly dark, bittersweet, and plummy, it makes for a delicious, terrifically multi-purpose ingredient. Although its name is the Chinese word for seafood (as pronounced in the Cantonese dialect), it is in fact neither made with nor generally served with fish. Its complex flavor is instead a result of ingredients that include winey, earthy fermented soybeans, sugar, garlic, black pepper, anise-accented five-spice powder, chile peppers, and vinegar.

A favorite in dishes all over the Chinese menu, most notably Peking duck (see
listing
) and moo shu pork, hoisin sauce is perhaps most closely associated with Cantonese cuisine, especially barbecued spareribs (see
listing
) and roast pork. Indeed, the sauce’s mellow sweetness and versatility make it an excellent accompaniment to any meat that comes off the grill, perfect for including in marinades and bastes—which is why it has become a premier “secret ingredient” on the barbecue circuit in the U.S.

Mail order:
amazon.com (search koon chun hoisin; lee kum kee hoisin, amoy hoi sin);
asianfoodgrocer.com
(search lee kum kee hoisin).
Further information and recipes:
epicurious.com
(search balsamic hoisin sauce; spicy hoisin chicken).
Tip:
Hoisin sauce can be kept for up to a year in a tightly covered jar in the refrigerator.

So humble is this gentle, comforting dish—usually a home-cooked treat—that it is difficult to find on the menus of Chinese restaurants, even those specializing in the cuisine of Canton. Fortunately, it’s easy to prepare. It begins, as so many
Chinese dishes do, with finely ground pork bolstered with chopped water chestnuts, rice wine, soy sauce, a little cornstarch, and the raw, salt-cured duck egg called
hom don
(see
listing
). The lightly seasoned pork is patted into a thick pancake onto a heatproof, rimmed plate; the egg is separated and the white is glossed over the meat as the yolk slips into a well that has been pressed into the center of the pancake; and the whole is sprinkled with minced scallions. Placed in a bamboo steamer for about fifteen minutes, the meat emerges pale pink and moist, studded with nice crisp bits of water chestnut; the yolk remains a bit runny, just enough to create a rich, sunny sauce.

If this sounds like more than you can tackle at home, try asking for it by name (
hom don jing gee yok
) at an authentic Cantonese restaurant. Your servers just might be willing to convey the request to the kitchen, where it can almost surely be met. The dish may well be a nostalgic taste of home for many Cantonese, perhaps including your chef.

Where:
In New York
, Amazing 66, tel 212-334-0099,
amazing66.com
.
Mail order:
For salted duck eggs, amazon.com (search chinese century eggs).
Further information and recipes:
The Chinese Cookbook
by Craig Claiborne and Virginia Lee (1972);
The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook
by Gloria Bley Miller (1984);
atablefortwo.com.au
(search steamed pork mince with salted duck egg).
Tip:
If you can’t find salted duck eggs, use fresh chicken eggs sprinkled with salt.

With their woodsy, aromatic earthiness and lip-tingling, addictive, slow-burn heat, Sichuan peppercorns (
Zanthoxylum simulans
) are among the world’s most intriguing spices. The hallmark flavor of the cuisine of western China, where they are called
huajiao
, they are not true peppercorns, but rather the red-brown berries of a large, prickly shrub.

Native to Sichuan Province and cultivated there possibly as far back as the Neolithic period, the spice is used to fire up marinades, roasted meats, fish, poultry, and cooking oil for a number of classic regional dishes, including tea-smoked duck (see
listing
), hot-and-sour cabbage, barbecued spareribs (see
listing
), and dry-fried chicken. It’s also essential to five-spice powder, a common Chinese seasoning blend that typically also includes cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, and star anise.

Prized for their sensory effect as much as for their flavor, the peppercorns trigger a distinctive buzzing tingle on the lips (called
ma la
in Chinese) that surprises novices and thrills the pepper’s legions of devotees.

Further adding to the raffish allure of these wrinkled, mahogany-hued berries is the fact that, from 1968 to 2005, the United States banned their importation on the grounds that they could potentially carry a canker harmful to citrus crops. Although the ban was widely flouted—many vendors of Chinese medicine sold the peppercorns secretly and chefs found ways to get them—it did make the spice harder to come by, and that much more tantalizing for its rarity. To have the ban lifted, Chinese
exporters agreed to heat-treat their peppercorns to kill any traces of the virus. Die-hard aficionados bemoan this treatment, which tempers the spice’s potency, but it assures a steady supply for U.S. fans of authentic Sichuan cuisine and of the smoky, lemony heat that only huajiao can provide.

Mail order:
amazon.com (search olive nation sichuan peppercorns).
Further information and recipes:
Mrs. Chiang’s Szechwan Cookbook
by Jung-Feng Chiang with Ellen Schrecker and John Schrecker (1987);
Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper
by Fuchsia Dunlop (2009);
saveur.com
(search capital of heat).
Tip:
To experience the full effect of the peppercorns, toast them in a dry frying pan over moderate heat for 7 to 8 minutes. Store toasted peppercorns in a jar with a tight-fitting lid in a cool, dry place; they will keep for several months. Crush them just before using to release their aromatic oils.