How to use Onion and Garlic for better cooking?

Img Credit : Woozie by Flickr

When it comes to Indian cooking onion and garlic play a major role in almost every dish. These two gives some really good flavor to the dishes.

I always wondered why we are using garlic paste in some recipe and chopped garlic in some recipes. Does it make difference in taste or reduce the flavor of it?

I was reading an interesting article today on Lifehacker and I’ve got my answer for it.

If you’re using onions or garlic or chives raw, in a dressing or salsa, either chop them just before serving or rinse the chopped pieces thoroughly. Water removes the harsh aging sulfur compounds from the cut surfaces, so you’ll taste only the fresh ones.

If you’re heating garlic or onions or their relatives, then cooking whole or coarsely chopped bulbs will moderate their flavor. Crushing or grating will intensify it.

Crushing can also diversify the flavors that alliums contribute to cooked dishes. They’re valuable ingredients in part because their sulfur chemistry suggests and reinforces savory meat flavors. Last year a German study of meat stews found that by far the strongest contributor to the overall “gravy” aroma was an unusual sulfur compound that came not from the meat, but from the onions and leeks. And that compound appears only after these vegetables have been cut up.

You can read more about the science of using onion and garlic in various forms here.