January 3: Thoughts for the Day

Posted on January 3, 2014 by John Swinburn

Any recipe that calls for a single clove of garlic must be considered suspect; that recipe was very probably produced by someone who does not like you.  Always use a minimum of three cloves of garlic, regardless of the recipe’s measure, or you’ll have vampires running rampant in your kitchen.

About John Swinburn

"Love not what you are but what you may become."― Miguel de Cervantes
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8 Responses to January 3: Thoughts for the Day

  1. Trish says:
    January 3, 2014 at 6:01 pm

    Well, I’ve another swing on garlic, John, and by the way I love it. My father, having been a very good cook, and of a Chekhovian family that used it in all, and, in abundance. And yes, as Juan mentions its health benefits, my father claimed the same (in part) for his robust family that had longevity.

    But on another rather unusual note (at least for myself), my first husband, here in Mexico showed me an apparently old custom in the usage of garlic apart from consuming it. This beening, they make reefs of garlic that they hang on the doorway, not unlike a Christmas reef, but much small in proportions. However, these reefs were made of only “macho” (male) garlic cloves that went into the make of these reefs. I had asked him how could you tell the difference? He claimed it was the shape of the clove. Who knows but this was a custom among the “popular people”, or better put, the peasants, and of course poor from the countryside. They claim its a protect for their homes (against vampires?…this is more that possible), though I was never really answered clearly upon its function…but indeed, we had one hanging on the front garage door (from the inside) for all the years! Guess it couldn’t have hurt, right?!

  2. John Swinburn says:
    January 3, 2014 at 5:01 pm

    Juan, I use garlic salt and onion flakes and dried cilantro, etc., but for me they are never up to the task the way the real thing is. Fresh, strong, powerful herbs and all their cousins are spectacular! I like the strong stuff! I didn’t know anything about orange juice and a clove of garlic for breath; if I try it, will you laugh hysterically that I took your words to be fact? 😉

  3. Juan says:
    January 3, 2014 at 4:46 pm

    It depends. Garlic is strong stuff. Ironically, a chewed clove of garlic with a full glass of orange juice before bed is good for bad breath and heart.

    Definitely 3 or 4 cloves in a pot of chili, but maybe 1/2 a clove or less in a plate of scrambled eggs with chorizo & chives.

    That’s when I really like the dried stuff, John — the stuff you keep in your collection-jars of spices, like onion flakes, garlic salt, chives, or even cilantro.

  4. John Swinburn says:
    January 3, 2014 at 12:25 pm

    I don’t smash my garlic with a hammer, G…I use an ancient aluminum garlic press. Good point about loving who you were if you were once a better person…but then, maybe Cervantes’ comment could apply even then…we can be better than we are now, and our history proves it!

  5. Susanne says:
    January 3, 2014 at 11:54 am

    Love garlic.

  6. uniqueger says:
    January 3, 2014 at 11:05 am

    I love garlic but smashing it with a hammer and picking it apart is not appealing. BTW, what if you were previously a better person: should you love not what you are but what you were?

  7. robin andrea says:
    January 3, 2014 at 10:08 am

    Mmmm garlic… Yum.

  8. Joyce Yerry Laurie says:
    January 3, 2014 at 7:00 am

    garlic is right up there with salt and pepper

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