An old line cook told me to stop mincing garlic so perfect

I used to spend like 5 minutes on every clove making those tiny uniform cubes. One night at The Rusty Spoon in Portland, this guy named Miguel just grabbed my knife and said 'you're overthinking it, just smash and rough chop, the flavor is the same.' I tried it and I'm literally saving 20 minutes on every prep shift now. Anyone else had a coworker call them out on some pointless habit?

3 comments

3 Comments

shane_bell1d agoMost Upvoted

Tbh I get why Miguel showed you that trick but is this really that deep? You're saving 20 minutes but like... were you really stressing over that? I feel like if you're not working some insane volume place the extra minute per clove is whatever. Ngl I still mince nice sometimes just because I like the look. It's not always about speed.

theas281d ago

Wait, didn't I see somewhere that garlic oxidizes real fast once you cut it, and smaller pieces actually lose more flavor before you even cook with it? I get what you're saying about presentation though, a nicely minced clove just looks better in the dish. Guess it's one of those things where the "right way" depends on if you're cooking for yourself or for people who actually notice.

barbara_jenkins661d ago

A buddy of mine used to spend 15 minutes trimming every single basil leaf perfectly for plating. His sous chef finally took the whole bunch, ripped it in half, and said "tastes the same, you're just wasting time." Now he just tears them by hand and nobody has ever said a thing about it.