Bobby Flay's Go-To Method For Prepping Garlic So It Melts Into Every Dish

Chef Bobby Flay has never been afraid to be in front of a camera, whether in televised cooking battles or more casual but genius cooking tips on his TikTok. In a clip shared by Food Network on YouTube, Flay shows fellow chef Ina Garten his favorite trick for getting raw garlic to a texture where it will simply dissolve into the food, lending immense flavor without adding any texture. In the video, Flay shows Garten how he makes garlic paste. Flay roughly chops a few cloves of peeled garlic, then begins to press down and crush the chopped cloves with the side of his knife blade (although he refers to it as the "back" of his knife). He follows this by sprinkling a bit of kosher salt on top of the garlic, then continues by dragging the side of the blade across the mixture with a bit of pressure. He repeats this crushing and sliding motion until a paste forms. 

"I want the garlic to kind of melt away into the pan," says Flay. Breaking down the garlic from small, minced chunks into a smooth paste will help it cook more quickly and almost dissolve into the food as it cooks, and you won't ever find a small piece of garlic that's noticeable. "You don't want to bite into the garlic, you just want to have the flavor of it," guesses Garten correctly. The small grains of salt help to crush the garlic more finely, and will also extract a bit of moisture coming from the garlic, which helps it emulsify slightly into a homogenous paste.

While the simplest way to make a garlic paste is with a chef's knife and cutting board, you have a few other options that produce similar results. If you have a large quantity of garlic, making garlic paste is easy in a food processor, especially a mini food processor, by pulsing until the garlic has been finely minced, sprinkling in a bit of salt, then processing the mix further until a smooth paste forms. Some chefs will also add a bit of neutral oil to the mix for an even smoother paste. A mortar and pestle will also mimic the crushing of the garlic with the side of a knife blade, and the roughness of the salt granules also helps to break down the garlic quickly. If you're short on time, you can use a microplane to grate garlic, then use the side of your knife to blend the salt into a paste on a cutting board. 

One thing to keep in mind when making and cooking with garlic paste is that you need to account for the salt already in the paste. It won't be a large amount of salt, but be aware that you're not just adding garlic but also a small bit of additional salt into whatever you're cooking. If you're a big fan of garlic in your food, find even more ways to better incorporate the allium with our tips you need when cooking with garlic.