American | Garlic Confit

Posted on October 14, 2011

A great alternative to roasted garlic. They come out so tender and delicious. You can use them as a spread on bread or to flavor a variety of dishes, such as Smashed Roasted Marble Potatoes. This recipe cooks the garlic in canola oil but you can use olive oil as well.

Yield: 1 cup

Ingredients

1 cup peeled garlic cloves

about 2 cups canola oil

 

Method

Cut off and discard the root ends of the garlic cloves. Put the cloves in a small saucepan and add enough oil to cover them by about 1 inch. None of the garlic cloves should be poking through the oil.

Set the saucepan on a diffuser over medium-low heat. The garlic should cook gently very small bubbles will come up through the oil, but the bubbles should not break the surface; adjust the heat as necessary and/or move the pan to one side of the diffuser if it is cooking too quickly. Cook the garlic for about 40 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until the cloves are completely tender when pierced with the tip of a knife. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the garlic to cool in the oil.

Refrigerate the garlic in a covered container, submerged in the oil, for up to 1 week.

Note: I didn't have a diffuser, so I just controlled the cooking by lowering the stove and moving the pan around.

Note: A reliable source let me know that you can keep the garlic for much longer than a week.

Note: In France, the cloves are often left unpeeled. This makes it almost unnecessary to stir since the garlic cloves don't stick to the saucepan or each other. (Peter H.)

 

(Ref. Sur La Table's "Garlic Confit" recipe, "Thomas Keller's Home Cooking Session 3: American Home Cooking" class.)