Lidia Bastianich's Time-Saving Tip For Adding Garlic To Any Dish

I'll confess, I'm not against tossing some pre-minced garlic in recipes (what Antonia Lofaso affectionately refers to as "jarlic"). Prepping garlic is up there with deveining shrimp as a kitchen task I try to avoid at all costs. It's sticky, it smells, it's messy, and using the pre-minced stuff saves me from dealing with any of that headache. Still, there's often no getting around using fresh when you're craving top-tier cuisine. When you're ready to suck it up and bust out your chef knife, acclaimed restaurateur Lidia Bastianich recommends prepping it in bulk so next time you need it, adding garlic to a dish is a grab-and-go affair.

Instead of plucking away a clove or two as a recipe calls for it, take the entire bulb and get down to business. Bastianich separates the individual cloves with one quick smack of the flat end of a knife. From here, you could use the shaking method to peel garlic or mimic the technique some restaurants use and soak it overnight. Bastianich goes old-school and simply peels each clove by hand with the assistance of her knife.

Now that you have multiple peeled cloves of garlic, use whatever is needed to complete your dish and store the rest for up to a week in an airtight container in the fridge. If you really want to go to town on those aromatic alliums, you can chop them up as well, but consider that decision carefully. Chopped garlic only lasts two or three days in the refrigerator, so it might not be as ideal for your next culinary gem.

Everyone understands garlic is pungent, but many don't realize that poignant flavor strengthens the more it is processed. As the cells of the allium are broken, enzymes from the bulb interact with oxygen in the air to form a chemical called allicin –- the culprit behind garlic's intense taste and smell. The more chopping you do, the more allicin you get. As nonsensical as it may seem to garlic lovers, there is such a thing as too much in some fare.

That's why Lidia Bastianich stores her peeled garlic whole. Sometimes the mild flavor of whole roasted cloves is all that's called for in a dish so chopping it up would overwhelm the overall profile. Bastianich prefers to use whole cloves when roasting meats, for example.

When she wants more intensity from the bulb, she slices it. That ups the allicin content to a moderate level which is perfect for braising vegetables. Mincing it creates a punchy blast of allicin that works great in cuisine that highlights the garlic. Think garlic butter steak bites or a take on your favorite Chinese food with chicken in garlic sauce. By leaving it whole after peeling, as Bastianich does, all options are on the table regarding how much garlic flavor you want to impart to any given dish.