I love garlic and garlic is good for people so it was a win at my house today when I tried a new way to make garlic confit.
Perhaps I should step back just a bit and explain that I thought about this when I read an email from Chefsteps.com. It’s one of those online cooking video subscription sites. I bought one on sous vide a while back and I keep getting emails from them. Sometimes they have free videos that are very good so it’s worth getting.
Anyway, the other day they were making garlic confit in the microwave. They said to put the microwave on its lowest setting and put the garlic in jars and cover with oil. I don’t like the idea of metal in a microwave, although I’m told it’s quite safe with newer machines.
Well… don’t you know that today they sent out an apology saying, “Oops, it really doesn’t work and we apologize.” Good thing for me that I didn’t try it.
I did try it in the sous vide machine. I sliced off the top of a head of garlic, placed it in a pint canning jar and poured olive oil until it covered it completely. Then I vacuum sealed the jars with the jar sealer attachment to my sealer and put it in the sous vide at 87C for four hours.
Bingo! It’s soft and creamy and when I tried it I thought, “Not enough garlic.” Normally I’d put just a scrape on the bread but not with this!
So now, we have this wonderful garlic that will keep in the fridge for a few days and not only that, we’ve got some glorious garlic olive oil to use in salads or with bread and dukkah. There are several ways to make this and I’ve used the oven before with good results but not as good as the sous vide.
Stephanie Manley from Copykat.com has done a video to explain how to make garlic confit on the stovetop.
- 1 head garlic
- olive oil (enough to fully cover the jar
- 1 canning jar that has been sterilized
- Heat sous vide to 87.5C or 190F
- Slice the top off the garlic to expose the individual cloves and trim the root end to ensure there's no dirt.
- Peel as much paper off the garlic as you can take off easily and place it in the bottom of a pint sized canning jar.
- Place the flat cover on top and vacuum seal (this is to take the air out so it will stay under water)
- Put the jar into the sous vide and leave for 4 hours.
- Once cool, use immediately or place in the refrigerator. It will take good for 2-3 days.