Garlic Confit and Oil

This is delicious! The garlic is slow cooked for about forty minutes and gets so soft it practically melts in your mouth. The recipe calls for you to place the saucepan over a diffuser in order to keep the oil at a really slow simmer. A blogger on the Internet suggested placing the saucepan on a skillet if you don't have a diffuser, which I don't. This trick worked well. I have made this both with canola oil (as instructed) and with olive oil (as requested!) both are delicious. I also haven't made a full recipe- only half each time (less garlic to peel and no worries about storing it too long). I made the oil specifically to use in the Aioli and also on the Smashed Roasted Marble Potatoes. However, it is especially good smeared on homemade ciabatta!

This is an excellent staple to have on hand! 2 cups of garlic took me a long time to peel (almost 3 heads!) but the result is fabulous. I didn't have a diffuser so I watched it carefully and when the bubbles got too big I just took it off the heat until it cooled down a little and put it back on. I had to do that twice while it was on the lowest setting on my gas stove. The garlic is so tender and tasty. I've added it to dressings, marinades and sauces. I made the oil for the garlic aioli so glad you can use the garlic and the oil!

I have never made garlic confit before, but after trying this recipe, it will be a staple in my refrigerator. It is super easy and the final product can be used in just about anything. The oil can be used to make salad dressings or pretty much anywhere where you are going to use oil, for sautéing, to make aioli. The garlic is extremely versatile. I like to add them to dips like hummus and guacamole.

The first time I made this recipe was for the Aoili (p 333) that goes into the buttermilk dressing (p 182) that goes into the blue cheese dressing (p 182) for the Iceberg and Lettuce Slices (p 150).

The only problem I had with this recipe is maintaining the right temperature as directed in the recipe. I have a heat diffuser and after 5 minutes on the suggested temperature the oil started to bubble too much. In the end, I found the easiest way was to use a double boiler.

Update 8/14 - I had some bad results trying to make Aoili. I did some research and learned from Harold McGee's book "On Food and Cooking" that the oil and egg are best at room temperature and it is very difficult to make mayonnaise with cold ingredients. This may be why some attempts from other users may have been inconsistent like mine. In the case of my last attempt, both the garlic oil and the eggs were used directly from the refrigerator.